You Can Do Better
by loudmouthgeek
Summary: What happened between "New York" and "The Purple Piano Project" to turn Quinn into that? Rated M for much dirty talking and probably other things later.
1. What Happened To Quinn?

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: This is something that was banging around in my head after watching the premiere. I really hope they're going somewhere interesting with Quinn this year to hopefully make up for the extreme nothing they did with her last year. Although, I'm reasonably certain that whatever they wind up doing with her won't be this.**

**Something clearly happened to turn the seemingly happy Quinn from the last scene of "New York" into the angry Skank Quinn of "The Purple Piano Project" but what was it? Well read on and you'll see.**

**Chapter 1**

**What Happened to Quinn**

"Glee Club needs me? Seriously, Rachel? That's the story you're going with?" Quinn scoffed and rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses.

"I d...don't what you mean, Quinn. It's not a story, Sam moved as you know, and Lauren quit, so without you that puts us down to ten which again as you know means that we don't have enough members to compete. Kurt is campaigning to get Blaine to transfer and join but we still need you."

Quinn arched an eyebrow skeptically, "So you're saying this has nothing to do with The Fourth..."

"NO!" Rachel cut her off emphatically, "That was a drunken lapse in judgment."

"So you were drunk for 36 hours?" Quinn laughed

"What's she talking about, Quinn?" Shelia asked.

"Who the fuck even is this girl?" Ronnie asked.

"Tell them," Quinn demanded staring at Rachel.

"I'm Rachel Berry. I'm in Glee…"

"No!" Quinn barked, "Tell them what happened."

"Quinn, please..."

"Yeah, that was part of it. Now tell them." Rachel dropped her head and started studying the gravel very intently. "If you want me to even THINK about coming back to your Glee Club, you will tell them about The Fourth of July. Think about it. These are three girls are proudly going nowhere. They're just marking down the days until they turn 18 and can drop out. You're Rachel _fucking_ Berry, future Broadway superstar. You're going to graduate and blow this town in less than a year. You're never going to see these girls again. It not like I'm forcing you to tell our friends or your fathers or your precious _fucking_ boyfriend. Say it!"

In the softest voice Rachel muster, which was still not as quiet by half as she'd have liked, she said, "QuinnandIhadintercourse."

The three other girls rang out a chorus of "What?"

"Say it where they can hear you and understand you," Quinn demanded firmly.

"Quinn and I had intercourse," she said in a normal tone of voice. The three other Skanks still looked confused. Rachel huffed, stamped her foot, crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes. "For God's sake, we had sex, okay? Are you happy now?" Rachel barked at Quinn.

"No," Quinn fired back quickly, "because you're dramatically underselling it. We didn't just have _fucking_ sex."

"Quinn, language."

Ignoring her, Quinn circled around behind her bringing herself very far in Rachel's personal space. The former Cheerio brought her face to within inches of Rachel's head. "For a day and a half I ate that sweet virgin _pussy_ like it was my _fucking_ job. She screamed my name until she was completely hoarse and then she screamed it just a little _fucking_ bit more. For thirty six hours she was completely lost in _orgasmic_ ecstasy. I have scars on my back still from all the scratching she did. I had to throw away _three_ sets of bed sheets. My mattress still smells like her _fucking_ cum." Quinn walked back around to face Rachel once more.

"Quinn there's no need to be so vulgar," Rachel elaborated.

"Then, after that marathon sex session, I finally screw up my courage and say what I've wanted to say to her for a long time. What did I say, Rachel?"

"You..." Rachel balked, "You said that you loved me."

"I told you that I'm _fucking_ in love with you, that I am in _fucking_ awe of you and your talents and your beauty and every _fucking_ thing about you. That I want to be with you." Quinn stared at her for a long minute. "And what did you do?"

"I..."

This time Quinn didn't wait for her find her words. "You got yourself a big ole case of gay panic… and ran away. And even though that's insanely _fucking_ stupid since you you're the child of two gay men, I was willing to forgive you because I know as well or better than anyone how hard this _shit_ can be to deal with, but then what do I hear just a couple days later? Oh just that she's started _fucking_ Finn Hudson her boyfriend, who she's been making wait for years for no particularly good reason."

"Quinn, your vulgarity isn't necessary."

"Oh, I remember you being VERY vulgar, and that's the point isn't it, Rachel? The reason you _fucking_ call everyone out on their language all the _fucking_ time has nothing to do with any _fucking_ PG sensibility, does it? The reason you don't want people to cuss is because it turns you the _fuck_ on, doesn't it?" Rachel cast her head down again. "It makes your _pussy_ wet. It makes you panties such a mess that it's uncomfortable to wear them. It makes you _clit _ache to be touched… and licked… and _sucked_, doesn't it? It makes your _nipples_ so hard that you can't hide them. It electrifies your skin and makes you heart race. Why I bet I could make you _come_ again, right here, fully dressed without touching you, just by using my dirty mouth, couldn't I?"

"Yes," Rachel husked out, "is that what you want to hear? My knees are so weak right now I'm barely maintaining my balance. You could make me explode right here, right now and there's nothing I could do to stop you. Or even if I could stop you, I wouldn't, how about that? Do you need to hear that I dream about your touch all night, every night? Or that I wake up at least twice a night in a sweat? That I've…" Rachel dropped her voice hoping the other girls wouldn't hear, "I've taken to sleeping in the nude so as not to soil _all _of my undergarments and pajamas? What do want to hear, Quinn?"

Quinn looked at Rachel and circled around her once again stopping behind the tiny diva and staring at the back of her head. "Well, that sleeping in the nude tidbit is pretty delicious but I think," Quinn said at last, "I want to hear about what you threw us away for. I want you to tell me about what it's like to _fuck_ Finn Hudson." The other Skanks had apparently heard more than they cared to know as they quickly packed up and left at this prompting.

"Quinn, please don't…"

"Tell me, Rachel," Quinn cut her off, "do his awkward, sloppy kisses excite you?" Quinn asked breathily into her ear. Quinn delicately ran a finger along Rachel's shoulder up to her neck and Rachel had to fight not to moan aloud. "Do his giant meaty hands set your nerves on fire like mine did? Does he make you moan when he gently caresses your beautiful, firm _tits_? Do you arch your back when he sucks on your _nipples_? Does he even do any of that?" Quinn placed a hand on either of Rachel's hips and pulled herself against Rachel's back burying her face in the brunette's neck. "Does he even know where you like to be kissed? Does he know where the place is just under your ear that as you said sets your soul on fire? Has he ever kissed you there on purpose? Did his big meaty lips excite you in that unlikely scenario?" Quinn slid one hand from her hip to Rachel's stomach. "How did you like his flabby gut rubbing against you?" Rachel looked ill at this question. "Does he eat your _pussy_ like you like it? I know you love the feeling being eaten out because you told me over and over. Does he take care of you like I did? Does he ever even touch you? Does he even know what you feel like _inside_?"

Rachel's eyelids were heavy and her breathing was ragged. She felt like she was ready to explode. She managed to rasp out, "Quinn, please stop."

"In 36 hours, how many orgasms did I give you? Do you even have any idea? I honestly stopped counting after about twenty."

"Sixty-seven," Rachel responded very quickly.

"How many did I ask for in return?"

Rachel said, "None."

"In six weeks of fucking him how many orgasms has he given you?" Rachel just shook her head, meaning none. "How many times have you gotten him off?"

"Thirteen."

"Has he ever lasted more than ten minutes?" Again she shook her head. "Do you know that there are things that he could do to last longer? Wearing two condoms is supposed to be very effective. Ginseng is readily available without a prescription, doesn't even cost very much money. Does he try anything like that to make it better for you?"

"No," she responded softly. "Do wish to have sex, again? Can I repay you for some of the many orgasms?"

Rachel's fundamental misunderstanding of Quinn's purpose made the pink haired girl want to cry but that wouldn't be productive at this point. "I do want to have sex with you again, but not just once and not so you can repay me anything because you don't owe me anything. I want to make you feel like you felt on the Fourth all of the time. I love you, Rachel. Despite you rejecting me, I still love you, and I still want to be with you despite you trying to trivialize what we've shared and what we could have, and I want to be in Glee, but I can't sit in that room every day and watch you be with him anymore. Not after knowing what we can have together. We don't have to be out to anybody if you don't want to be, but I have too much self-respect to be the other woman. You want me back in Glee, that's my asking price. Ditch Finn and give us a fair shot. I know you maybe don't love me like I do you and that's fine. God knows before the Fourth, I never gave you any reason to, but after the Fourth I know you _could_ love me if you gave me… us an honest shot, and that's all I ask for. If we don't work out after that, the giant man-child will always take you back, and I'll suck it up and deal with it."

"As I've told you by now," Rachel said regaining some of her composure, "I want you too, but there are other things that must be considered before I can just give into desire and be with you. I must think about these things. My being impulsive rarely works out well for anyone. Please understand, Quinn."

"I understand," she said, "I understand that you have to go home and make your Pro/Con lists that will convince you to stay safe where you are with the Two Pump Chump, but let me offer you this one piece of advice: invest some serious cah in a high quality dildo because _when_ you pick him, you'll be responsible for your own pleasure from now until you leave for New York. Then again, that sex toy isn't going to whisper into your ear about how much it loves you and how beautiful you are to it, so I hope you can summon the memories of us when you need reassurances."

"Quinn, you're being very unfair. You don't know…"

"I don't know that you're going to pick him? When haven't you picked him? Puck was just an attempt to make him jealous, even when you first were with Jesse, you still would have rather been with Finn. You just wanted to make him suffer for dumping you."

Rachel pulled at Quinn's hands, still resting on her body, "Unhand me, Quinn. You presume too much. You think that everything is simple when it is in fact very far from simple. You know me but yet you do not understand. There are things… things that must be considered before I can commit to a plan of action. Rachel's history of acting on impulse has given our lives such wonderful times as telling Finn about the paternity of your baby and sending Sunshine to a crack house. Do these sound like the types of things that you want to happen to us? I think emphatically not. Now, I understand that this feels like rejection to you, though it _is not_, and as such you are reacting from a place of hurt so I will do you the favor of not holding this against you, but I _will _consider things before I decide to act."

"Okay," Quinn said. After a moment she added, "Though I would point out that the Fourth was you acting on impulse, too."

"Once I've made my decision and I explain everything to you, you'll understand why that's not as reassuring as you think it is," Rachel said and with that she turned to head back to class.

**A/N: Reviews tell me you care, knowing you care makes me write faster. :)**


	2. How Did We Get Here?

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: All I can say is Wow! I normally write for much more oddball pairings where I'm lucky to get 40-50 reviews for an entire 100,000 word story, so to get 14 in one day for one chapter is pretty overwhelming. You guys are awesome and I greatly appreciate all the feedback. **

**For those of you that have commented on it, I am new to the angst. My natural inclination as a writer is considerably more humorous and fluffy, so this is a challenge for me, but that was the purpose of this, to try something different. Hope everyone enjoys Chapter Two, although, fair warning: if you fell in love with Quinn's foul mouth, it's not here, you'll see why. It will be back.**

**Chapter Two**

**How Did We Get Here?**

Quinn felt intensely stupid standing at the back of the auditorium watching the Glee Club perform some song she'd never heard. "What am I even doing here?" she mumbled to herself. She was kidding herself with that question though. She knew _exactly_ what she was doing there. She came to hear Rachel sing, came to hear that voice that just tore right through her.

After years of horrible treatment as Lucy, Quinn hadn't just built walls around her heart but an entire labyrinth around it, complete with iron barred oak doors and titanium portcullises at every turn so that no one could touch her. The first full week of freshman year, she learned that someone knew some secret back way through the maze because Quinn couldn't keep her out. At first, Quinn didn't even know her name only that she was tiny and beautiful and she hummed to herself constantly when she wasn't talking… which was, admittedly, a lot. Quinn was envious of her ability to be that carefree all the time, and at first that's all Quinn had thought it was, envy.

The girl walked around as though she didn't have a care in the world. Quinn had many concerns. She'd made the Cheerios squad, but she only had a year to impress Coach Sylvester enough to make her Captain next year after Grace Hendrix, the current captain, graduated. She had to scout out the football players to see who the prospects for dating were, who was most likely to be quarterback in the coming years. Roping in the quarterback early would certainly help her prospects at the captain-ship. She also had to get top grades and have perfect attendance, all to impress her father.

After a week of watching her discreetly, Quinn had subtly inquired about the girl and found out her name was Rachel Barbara Berry. There were also some snide and hateful comments about her having gay parents or something like that but Quinn paid it no attention because she was just so enraptured with the girl and now she knew her name, a name that seemed entirely fitting to the little bit that Quinn knew about her. That afternoon, Quinn went home after Cheerios practice and quickly hit up Facebook to try to find out more about the girl.

When she found nothing there, she checked MySpace because in 2008 there were some people that still cared about MySpace, and sure enough there was Rachel Barbara Berry from Lima, Ohio and apparently the girl liked to vlog because there were over 100 videos posted on her page, not that this was surprising considering how talkative the girl was. Quinn found on one of them entitled "Don't Rain On My Parade" which she thought was a excellent sentiment, keeping your head high with others try to get you down. Curious as to what the Rachel had to say on the subject, which based on how much she talked at school, Quinn figured was a lot. She clicked on the link to the video and the chatty brunette on screen said, "Hello, World. I am Rachel Barbara Berry and today I will be singing for you one of my all time favorites by my idol and namesake, Ms Barbara Streisand. This is 'Don't Rain on My Parade.'" And the petite girl let loose her giant voice and Quinn was blown away. When the song was over, Quinn watched it again. Then she watched Rachel sing "Tonight" from West Side Story, "On My Own" from Les Miz, "Big Spender" from something called Sweet Charity, "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson, and "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.

When she was done, Quinn knew beyond certainty that her feelings about Rachel weren't envious but amorous. Surprisingly, that didn't freak her out like she thought it might. Quinn had seen enough of Brittany Pierce and Santana Lopez at Cheer Camp that summer to see them for what they were, even if they didn't see it themselves. She was _well _aware of The Church's stance on homosexuality, and through that, her father's opinion of it, so while she saw nothing sinful in what was between her new friends, she knew that she would never act on these feelings for Rachel... as much she may want to. Quinn lived and died on her father's approval. It was a harmless, stupid crush. It would go away on its own eventually.

So, Quinn, the ultimate compartmentalizer, pushed those feelings aside. She'd seen the movie A Beautiful Mind and at the end Russell Crowe's delusions were still there, he just chose not to talk to them anymore. That's how she was with Rachel and her feelings. Rachel still existed as did Quinn's feelings for her but the blonde just made a decision not to do anything about them. Eventually, she'd meet someone else and she'd get over the tiny diva. Okay, so maybe she still visited Rachel's MySpace page and listened to her sing, but the girl was a hell of a singer. Quinn listened to Pink and Beyonce too, didn't mean she was in love with them either. And okay, maybe on a couple of occasions she'd heard the original versions of songs that she'd heard Rachel sing and turned them off because they were ruining "Rachel's song" but sometimes an artist covers a song that outdoes the original and the cover artist kind of takes over the song. Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" came to mind, not to mention Aretha's version of "Respect." And alright, maybe she couldn't get into making out with her boyfriend without one of "Rachel's songs" playing in the background. It didn't mean anything.

Quinn had no idea who had started tormenting Rachel in school. Presumably it was one of the underclassmen Cheerios. It definitely wasn't her but somehow Coach Sylvester got it in her that it had somehow been Quinn's plan and Quinn didn't do anything to dissuade her of that idea once she figured out that Coach liked it. When Coach brought it up the first time, Quinn thought she was being blamed for it and was scared to death that she was in trouble. Even after Sylvester had clarified that she liked the hounding of the girl, Quinn still felt like she was being blamed after all she cared about this girl. Even if society would let embrace that, she wasn't going to take out her frustrations on Rachel. She wasn't a monster for God's sake. But then Sue Sylvester put a target on the girl's back… literally. She printed off a bull's-eye on a piece of paper and taped it to Rachel's back like the cheerleading coach was a twelve year old boy or something. Quinn had discreetly retrieved it as soon as it was safe, but it was no use. Too many people had seen it on her. Coach Sylvester had thrown down the gauntlet. It was open season on Rachel Berry, and Quinn had to either keep pace with everyone else or risk getting shunted to the bottom of the pyramid.

Though it hurt her to do it, Quinn joined in, but she stuck steadfastly to her "Stick and Stones" rule. She would call her insulting and demeaning nicknames but she would never do anything to actually hurt Rachel. She wouldn't throw slushies nor sanction the throwing of them. She wouldn't push her around and she wouldn't physically intimidate her. She tried her best to stick to insults that she hoped Rachel knew weren't true or that she wouldn't actually be insulted by. She would call her RuPaul because in what way did the 5'2" Jewish girl resemble the 6 foot African American drag queen? She called her Yentl because that was the name of a character played by her idol in a movie directed by her idol. She was in effect calling her Barbara Streisand. She called her a hobbit and a dwarf, because sure they're both short but hobbits are kind, generous, decent, hard working people and dwarfs are brave, honorable, and fierce. She hoped Rachel understood.

So, okay, there may have been a flood of Cheerios, including Quinn, posting horrible comments on all of her MySpace videos, as well as her YouTube videos when the girl made the jump, but there was always one girl who would always praise her talents and encourage her to not let the naysayers get her down, one girl named Lucy. And while Quinn-as-Lucy's comments always stayed strictly about Rachel's talents, she may have, from time-to-time, written long florid love letters in the comment box, hundreds of words about the greatness and the beauty of Rachel Berry, the person, and her hand would hover over the send button for the better part of half an hour before she chickened out and cut the comment back to be strictly professional… and maybe that happened more that from time-to-time, possibly it was closer to every time.

At the end of freshman year, the look of pride on her father's face when she told him that she'd been made Head Cheerio for the subsequent year completely made up for all the emotions that she'd had to swallow that year... or so Quinn told herself. Summer was fun, really bonding with Brittany and Santana, but was over too fast, and sophomore year was upon them before they knew it.

When they got back there was a big scandal on the third day of school. Mr. Ryerson was accused of molesting a student and was suddenly out. Seemingly right at the same time her boyfriend, Finn Hudson, confided in her that he was failing Spanish. Quinn was dumbfounded as to how this was even possible since she knew for a fact that he cheated on every test. She would suspect that he was cheating off of Brittany but the ditzy blonde was fluent in Spanish because of her relationship with Santana. It was one of the few classes she didn't need tutoring to stay academically eligible for Cheerios. She was so furious at him even days later that when she saw him walking towards her in the hall she ducked through a door to avoid seeing him. If she'd been paying better attention she would had done a u-turn rather than go through the door because she had ducked into the auditorium. She'd spent all of last year going five minutes or more out of her way to avoid this room on the likely chance of finding Rachel here, and sure enough she was in there when Quinn ducked in. Mr. Schuester's there too, but Quinn literally didn't notice him at all. Rachel was singing and Quinn was transfixed. It was "On My Own" and Quinn had watched the video of this song dozens of times over the last year but it didn't begin to do Rachel justice. Quinn could only hazard a guess and say that maybe Rachel didn't have state-of-the-art recording equipment at home but she thought that it was more likely that capturing the essence and sheer beauty of Rachel Berry and her amazing voice on video is completely impossible. In the thousands of years of spoken language, Man had not yet invented words for how beautiful Rachel is on stage singing with all her considerable might. In that moment, Quinn knew though she might spend the rest of her life denying it but this was not some silly little crush. She was hardcore, head-over-heels in love with Rachel Barbara Berry.

After that, the hits just kept on coming. Finn had to join Glee to pass Spanish, so to stay on the football team he just had to sacrifice any social standing that he got by being on the team. She slipped into the auditorium when they're doing their first big number "Don't Stop Believin" and she knew Finn had to have picked that. She saw him making eyes at _her _Rachel and she felt sick. Quinn was not remotely unaware of how insane it was for her to call Rachel hers when the two had never had so much as a conversation with one another that wasn't to do with one of their classes, but then again the Land of Reason is not the providence of the jealous. Then they turned around and Quinn saw Rachel's face and she was every bit as smitten with him and then rather than puking, she just wanted to die. Finn Hudson is the complete opposite of everything Rachel deserves.

When Puck showed up that night with wine coolers she mistakenly thought he was her savior. Later, when she was laying under him getting jackhammered, bored nearly to tears and in pain she wondered why she gave into this moron when she never even came close to giving into the moron she was dating and when thoughts of the boy's Jewish heritage and who he shared that heritage crept into her mind, she bit the inside of her cheek to make the pain drive away that line of thinking before it went any further. His constant reassurances that she was not fat she could sort of mentally mangle until in her mind he was telling her, "You're not gay."

Then she was pregnant and she joined the Glee Club to try her best to keep Finn and Rachel apart. She told Finn that he's the father and feeds him some load of bullshit about him busting a nut in her hot tub and that getting her pregnant and the moron believes her. He was supposed to call bullshit on her and break up with her and accuse her of cheating and then she was supposed to change her story and say that they had sex so that he sounds like an asshole making up an excuse to dump his pregnant girlfriend. Surely that would have driven Rachel off of him for good, but he has to be a moron and believe her. To top that Puck was supposed to be thrilled that he was off the hook for the kid, not wanting to help her raise it, and then it got out that she's pregnant and she's kicked off the Cheerios and kicked out of her home and living with Finn and before she knew it, it was time for Sectionals and Rachel somehow finds out that Puck is the father and tells Finn. Quinn wasn't lying when she told Rachel that she was not mad at her for telling. She was glad that there were still decent, honest, and kind people left in the world, and since Quinn wasn't one of them, she was glad Rachel was. Quinn managed to ask Rachel to give her some alone time before she broke down and told her that she loves her. Rachel didn't need to hear that, not in the middle of all the other drama. When Rachel busted out "Don't Rain on My Parade" on the fly at Sectionals she was so amazing and so beautiful that Quinn couldn't help but cry, luckily she had baby hormones to blame it on.

After holiday break, Finn broke up with Rachel out of the blue apparently having it in his mind that he was the campus stud. When Rachel sang "Gives You Hell" to vent Quinn could barely mask her joy. Rachel then started seeing Jesse and for various reasons Quinn didn't see him as a threat, mostly because she knew they wouldn't last past the end of the year when Jesse was due to graduate. As it turned out is was sooner than that. Pregnancy occupied most of her attention although she did make time to go with Rachel to spy on Vocal Adrenaline and when Quinn saw their coach, she remembered thinking that she could easily be Rachel's mother, as it turned out she was right. Then before she knew it, it was Regionals and she was eight months pregnant and dancing and her mother was there asking her to come back home and she went into labor. The whole thing was a blur, but when Rachel's mom offered to adopt the baby, Quinn didn't hesitate for a second to say yes because… it was Rachel's mom and she was just like Rachel in nearly every way.

She spent the summer getting her body back into shape and she decided that she'd already lost two years pining after a girl that she wouldn't ever get to be with. It was time to let Rachel go. Her father was out of the way so that stumbling block was gone, but by then she was pretty convinced that Rachel would never reciprocate her feelings even if she did say something. Rachel was pretty clearly boy-crazy. In the last year she'd bounced from Finn to Puck to Finn to Jesse and back to Finn. Quinn was pretty certain Rachel was as straight as they came and even if she wasn't Quinn had been pretty thoroughly horrible to her for years so it was unlikely she'd ever want Quinn even if her door did swing this way. Of course, that couldn't stop her from agreeing to test Finn's commitment to Rachel. Even in trying to let her go, she still didn't want her wasting her time on that gorilla. When she met Sam she thought she finally had someone she could fall in love with, a nice, good looking, decent guy who basically thought the sun shone out of her ass. She really tried to give him her heart but the truth of it was that Quinn's heart hadn't been hers to give since the beginning of freshman year. When Sam offered her a promise ring only a month into their relationship she didn't want to lead the guy on but she didn't want to break his heart either and she didn't want to give up on the outside possibility that she could love him, so she took it.

When Finchel blew up just before Sectionals over the whole Finntana Deflowering Time Bomb, Quinn was once again happy since Santana hooking up with Finn just happened to be an idea that Quinn had put into Brittany's head almost a year earlier. By Christmas, Quinn knew she and Sam would never be, and she knew that there was a limited window between Finn and Rachel breaking up and Finn going after her again, so she decided to throw a spanner in the works and knowing that Finn loved chasing after what he thought he couldn't have, she kissed him after the State Championship game and then played hard to get so that he'd chase her for a while. Maybe she could use him to win Junior Prom Queen. She had no idea why she even still cared about that. Her father wasn't around to impress anymore, but for whatever reason she still wanted that crown.

The giving up on Rachel effort was going exactly nowhere, however. When the girls did the "Start Me Up/Livin on a Prayer" mash-up, the sight of Rachel in those absurdly tight leather pants required every last bit of willpower Quinn could summon to resist dragging her in Mr. Schuester's office and having her way with the tiny brunette. Quinn found herself rather disturbed at how turned on the sight of Rachel in football pads made her. On Valentine's Day, Artie sang the hell out of P.Y.T. to Brittany and Quinn thought that maybe, just maybe after all of her current entanglements ended and Brittany inevitably went back to Santana, that she should pursue Artie. He was a thoroughly decent guy, smart and funny. He would never leave her and never hurt her. By the end of the day she had herself almost fully convinced that Artie was someone that she could love. Then the next day Rachel sang the hell out of "Firework" by Katy Perry and Quinn couldn't have told you Artie's last name or his most distinctive physical feature. By the time she heard Rachel sing "Get it Right" at Regionals, she knew she'd never get over Rachel.

Quinn was utterly lost. She had no idea what to do. Her conflicting dreams of being Prom Queen and being with Rachel were driving her insane. When Finn broke Rachel's nose Quinn wanted to run to her and cradle her but she held off. When Rachel asked Quinn to go with her to the plastic surgeon she didn't want to because she thought Rachel was perfect like she was but she didn't want to say no either because… well, Rachel wanted to spend time with her. Quinn's best effort to dissuade her from the nose job without bringing their time together to an abrupt end was the "Warped View of the World" speech. It didn't seem to work, but when Rachel offered to sing a duet with Quinn in Glee, she really could have cared less. The night after, Quinn never slept so well in her whole life. She didn't want to jinx it by saying out loud but she thought she and Rachel were starting to become friends. Much to Quinn's horror, Lauren Zizes dug up her past as Lucy and plastered it all over the school. Much to her surprise, pretty much no one cared.

Then Prom Night came. All they had to do was get through the night, Quinn would win Prom Queen and then she could move on from her past and go after what she really wanted, Rachel. At the dance, the girl of her dreams did a blistering rendition of "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perry which Quinn officially classified as one of "Rachel's songs" and the original version now sucked by comparison. Then Jesse started getting too hands-y with Rachel for Finn's liking. Fight. Ejected. Coronation. Quinn's brain completely melted down. "This is your fault. No one ever would have voted for me because he would rather be with you!" Quinn could sort of put together that that made no sense, and Rachel was attempting to dispute her and Quinn just saw red. The next thing she knew her hand hurt and Rachel was clutching her left cheek. She'd hit Rachel… _her Rachel…_ in the face. In her _beautiful _face. Quinn had violated her "Sticks and Stones" rule and she recoiled at herself in disgust. She'd hit the person she loved most in this world (aside from her daughter) over a stupid crown that she couldn't remember why she'd wanted it. "I'm so sorry," Quinn said. She'd wanted to add, 'for everything I've ever done to you' but the words died in her throat.

"Most girls would be upset about being slapped in the face, but… I happen to appreciate the drama of it," Rachel said.

Quinn couldn't help but feel like she was being let off the hook and before she knew it words were pouring out of her mouth, "I know you think it's hard to be you, Rachel, but at least you don't have to be terrified all of the time."

"What are you so scared of?" Rachel asked passing Quinn a damp paper towel.

Their fingers brushed lightly as Quinn took the towel and there was an electric charge that ran through Quinn's body so intense that she knew there was no way Rachel didn't feel it too_. 'This is your opening, Fabray. Tell her that you're scared of admitting that you're gay. Tell her you're terrified of being in love with a girl that has ever reason to hate you. Screw telling her anything, just fucking kiss her! She'll get the hint!' _"The future," she said. _'Quinn Fabray, you fucking coward!' _"When all of this is gone." _'When you've graduated and gone to New York to do amazing things and I'm stuck here in this homophobic hell hole.'_

"Look, you have nothing to be scared of. You're a very pretty girl, Quinn. The prettiest I've ever met, but you're a lot more than that." With that, Quinn's tears returned and Rachel helped her clean herself up. _'God, not only does she care about me, she actually __**believes**__ in me. No one's ever said that to me before. Screw Prom Queen, I just want her.'_

She worked on her plan and just when she was beginning to have some idea of what to do, Finn dumped her after Coach Sylvester's sister's funeral. He was leaving to go back to Rachel and there was nothing she could do or say to stop him, and Rachel was going to take him back because she just can't say no to that jackass. When Finn thanked her for not quitting Glee, Quinn made a vague statement about a plan, but the only plan she had was dead in the water. It was a completely empty threat, she had nothing. In New York, she had a vague notion of getting them caught sneaking out and getting the team disqualified from Nationals. Thankfully Santana and Brittany stopped her and took her for a therapeutic haircut and an amazing day in New York City. Finn screwed up their chances at the top ten and the money to really secure Glee Club's existence at the school. She knew she should want to kill him but somehow after all of it, Quinn just couldn't summon the energy to care about Finn anymore, he was never going to get his shit together when it came to Rachel and after New York, Rachel was never going to let him stand in her way. She'd told Santana that she wanted someone to love her… a very specific someone. It was time to focus. It was time to win her woman.

When Quinn saw Rachel sitting alone, looking bored at Mercedes' Fourth of July pool party she knew she had an opening. She just needed a chance to talk to her.

**A/N: I know, a whole bunch of back story, right? Reviews. Tell me what you think.**


	3. After the Show

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: So the response was kind of 50/50 on the back story. What you guys were very unified on was wanting to know about The Fourth. I regret to inform you guys that you will have to wait on that for a bit. There's a bit of a tease about it here, but the play by play is yet to come (so to speak). I've yet to decide if I'm going to try to run parallel to Season Three or break off and just do my own thing. I think it will come down to whether or not I can work tomorrow's episode in with the events I have written in my head.**

**Once again, the responses were overwhelming. Thank you guys for the alerts/favorites, and big time thanks for the reviews. **

**Chapter 3**

**After the Show**

Rachel was always the last one to leave the auditorium after one of their group numbers. Quinn knew that because, generally speaking, Quinn was usually the next to last to leave. Assuming Finn wasn't there with Rachel, Quinn would find some place hidden and out of the way so that she could watch Rachel just enjoying herself. During their songs everyone went on stage to perform and then went home. The stage _was _Rachel's home. It was where she was most alive, so after their songs she lingered there to be alive a little bit longer. Sometimes she would sing another song, sometimes she would just hum to herself. Whatever she did Quinn thought it was beautiful… even that time Rachel had tried her hand at rapping and busted out "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne, which had been particularly maddening for Quinn considering the subject matter of the song.

Rachel wasn't singing today, just sitting on the edge of the stage her legs kicking and swaying as she looked around the empty auditorium daydreaming. "That was pretty good," Quinn said from her spot at the back. If Rachel was surprised to hear Quinn's voice she didn't react at all. She stood up from her seat and walked towards the stage slowly. "Blaine's a good addition to the group," Quinn said, when Rachel didn't respond she continued, "I was a little worried when he sang Tom Jones out on the quad. Didn't sound like a good fit, like he was still Blaine Warbler instead of New Directions Blaine, but he sounded good with you guys." When she still got nothing, Quinn shifted gears, "Where was Santana?"

"Suspended," Rachel said softly as Quinn finally reached the front of the house.

"From school?" she asked hitching an eyebrow. Quinn may not have been spending time with her Cheerio friends anymore but she still kept her ear to the ground and she hadn't heard anything about Santana getting into any trouble.

Rachel shook her head and corrected her, "Mr. Schuester suspended her from Glee Club, as punishment for setting the piano on fire in the quad."

Quinn was actually impressed. "Good for him," she said, "it's about time there was some damn law and order in that zoo of a club, about time he grew a backbone. I heard he actually cut someone who auditioned."

"Why are you here, Quinn?" Rachel asked dispensing with the small talk.

"You know why," Quinn responded softly.

"I've not made a decision yet, Quinn," Rachel said pleadingly.

"I know, and that's not why," Quinn told her, "You know how I feel, and at the risk of sounding like the creepiest fucking creeper ever…"

"Language," Rachel interjected reflexively.

Quinn just smirked slightly as she continued, "I can't stay away from you when I know that you're going to be singing somewhere. I've told you what your voice does to me and even if I could stay away, I wouldn't want to. Hell, I…" she hesitated. She shook her head slightly and said, "No, never mind."

"What were you going to say, Quinn?"

"No, it sounds creepy and stalker-ish," Quinn responded. Rachel crossed her arms and glared at Quinn. Quinn caught the meaning of the look and sighed, running her hands through her pink hair. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," she said. "I was going to say that I'm moving to New York when we graduate whether we're together or not. See, creepy, but I can't help it. That's where you're going to be, on Broadway doing what you were born to do, and if I don't get to be there as your girlfriend then I'm going to be there as your biggest fangirl."

"Quinn, while I greatly appreciate your supreme confidence in my future stardom, you can't dedicate your whole life, your whole future to me. Being Rachel Berry's number one fan won't pay for you a place to live. You must have your own interests."

"Rachel, look," Quinn said, "I know that there's a line between love and obsession and I know that at times I'm within a hair's breadth of that line, but I swear I'm not a total sycophant, okay? Of course I have to have my own interests. I _do_ have my own interests. I have dreams for me too?"

Rachel quirked an eyebrow and said, "Would this be a different dream than the one you related to me just before Regionals last year in which you marry Finn and become a real estate agent?"

Quinn couldn't help but laugh at that. "That was never my dream, Rachel. That was your nightmare. Married to a man with no ambition, living out a mediocre existence far away from any limelight in dreary Lima, Ohio, can you think of a life that you would hate worse?"

"I… no, I cannot."

"Have I ever struck you as the real estate agent-slash-housewife type?"

"Not in the slightest," Rachel responded quickly. "If you were so intent on keeping Finn and I apart then, why not now? Why aren't you trying to sabotage our relationship?"

"Rachel, besides that time you asked me to, I've never tried to come between you two once you were together," Quinn said, "I've tried to stop you from getting together, but not try to split you up. Well… aside from fucking you silly on the Fourth and even that's more to do with us being together and less to do with splitting you two up because…" Quinn smiled brightly at the image in her head, "…because I saw you in New York. You got a taste of your dream and now you want it all the more, and you aren't going to let Finn Hudson or anyone else stand in your way."

Rachel looked down at her knees and said, "It's… I'm still somewhat astounded at how well you seem to know me, Quinn."

Quinn pulled herself up to sit on the stage next to the brunette. "I know that for you the idea of you and I is still relatively new, but for me it's been three years, and we're in all the same AP classes and Glee and Celibacy Club, last year, and well you talk a lot," Quinn bumped her elbow against Rachel's affectionately, "and because I Io… care, I've listened."

"Why did you hold back just then?" Rachel asked

"Because I don't want to feel like I'm emotionally blackmailing you. If you want to hear it, I'll say it. I love you, Rachel, and I'm not ashamed of that fact. I was for a long time and that's everything to do with me and the way I was raised and _nothing_ to do with you, okay?" Rachel nodded. "And I want to be with you, but I want you to _want _to be with me. I don't want to pressure you into this. I want this too much to do it the wrong way."

Rachel smiled at her, "You needn't censor yourself around me, Quinn. You claim to know me so well then you should know I cannot be emotionally blackmailed. When I make my choice, it will be because the person I choose is the best fit for me, not because they've badgered me into it. Besides, it's never a bad thing to hear someone tell you they love you and mean it."

"I do mean it," Quinn added quickly.

"I know you do," Rachel reassured her. "One does not give someone 67 orgasms while never getting one themselves without some sort of deeper feelings."

Quinn smiled, "I came plenty of times. Don't you worry about that. Watching you come is about the sexiest thing I've ever seen. I only had to spare a finger or two for myself every so often to send me over the edge. You just didn't notice because you were too busy coming yourself."

"Changing the subject before your foul mouth makes its return fully and leaves me a tingly mess again. I have a concern that I would like to raise while we are talking, if I may."

"Speak your mind," Quinn said smiling.

"While I am beyond certain of your feelings for me, I am less so about mine for you."

"I think I proved yesterday…"

"Yesterday you proved that you can arouse me and that you remember how to please me sexually, and as skill sets go, that's a winning combination to be certain, but they are not the sorts of things that make a relationship stand the test of time and I'll not, as you say, 'ditch Finn' for a strictly sexual relationship… even if it is really amazing sex. In my situation, I need more than that. I need the emotional connection as well."

"I understand," Quinn said, "I want that too, but I won't date you while you're with him. I've cheated and I've been cheated on. I know both sides of that equation suck. I won't be your woman on the side."

"Certainly not," Rachel shook her head as she spoke. "I wouldn't want you to be. If nothing else, I have too much respect for you as a person to ask that of you. What I propose is something just to see if the feelings and emotions of our time together can be re-summoned, to be certain that they were not wholly situational. I want to kiss you again."

"No tongue," Quinn said.

"Quinn, please be serious," Rachel huffed. "I am endeavoring to determine if I have genuine feelings for you. If your kiss resembles that of my Aunt Mildred, I'm going to assume that our time together this summer was as they say 'a onetime thing' and we may miss out on something. I need you to bring your proverbial A-game, here."

Quinn set her gaze on the tiny diva and said, "Alright, Rachel, I'll kiss you. I'll kiss the fucking hell out of you," Quinn stood and offered Rachel a hand up. When they were both on their feet Quinn said, "But this is the only time we're going to do this while you're still with him, do you understand?" Rachel nodded. "The next time you kiss me will be when you're mine or not at all." Rachel nodded again. "I'm serious, Rachel. I won't let you string me along with stolen moments in private while you…"

Quinn's last sentiment was cut off by Rachel's lips on hers, which truth to tell is what Quinn wanted. She wanted Rachel's full determination behind the kiss, because then she knew that Rachel would feel how Quinn felt when they kissed, warm and weightless. After the initial crush of lips, Quinn cupped Rachel's face in her hands and guided the kiss. For a long moment, she kept it just lips on lips. Rachel wanted to feel emotion, not sensation and when tongues and teeth started getting involved, sensation would take over. Eventually the temptation was too much however and Quinn ran her tongue along Rachel's lips, a silent request for entry that Rachel accepted and their tongues slid along one another's.

Quinn dropped her right hand to Rachel's shoulder and her left to Rachel's hip leaving them there for only a minute before wrapping them around Rachel's back, pulling the smaller girl tightly against her. After only a moment like this, Rachel felt extremely warm. Not just the physical warmth of Quinn's and her body heat but an emotional warmth as her mind drifted back to the morning of July 5th and the feeling of waking up naked in Quinn Fabray's bed, wrapped up tightly in Quinn Fabray's arms. She would wake up similarly on the subsequent day and her phone would ring and she would bolt out of bed and out of the house and out of Quinn's life for six weeks, but on that day, on the fifth, she just lay there content and still and as happy as she could ever remember being when she wasn't singing. She remembered the look of absolute peace on Quinn's sleeping face, the likes of which she'd never seen neither on the blonde nor anyone else before and she remembered wanting to see her like that always.

Back in the present, in the auditorium, Quinn broke off the kiss. She ran her nose up the length of Rachel's and then pressed a delicate kiss to Rachel's forehead, just above her left eyebrow, still holding her all the while.

When Quinn let her go, Rachel felt like she wanted to cry. The kiss had lasted less than five minutes but it felt like a lifetime in Quinn's embrace. Rachel pressed her fingertips to her lips trying to literally, physically hold onto the feeling. Just barely above a whisper, Rachel managed to squeak out, "Thank you, Quinn."

"Hey," Quinn said softly to the downcast brunette. When she didn't respond she said, "Rach, can you look at me, please," Rachel looked up and Quinn could see the emotional conflict in her beautiful face. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

Rachel swallowed hard, "My feelings for you are very real, Quinn. I wish I could say that they were the only concern that I had to take into account. Sadly, they are not, and as I'm finding it hard not to throw myself at you, I should probably go now."

"No, I'll go. This is your space," Quinn said gesturing around to the stage, "This is where you go to think and to feel safe. I'll let you have it."

"Can you…" Rachel's question died in her throat. The girl was almost literally choking on her emotions. "Can you just say it one more time, please?"

Quinn knew what she meant, "I'll say it as many times as you want to hear it. I love you, Rachel."

"Thank you, Quinn," Rachel said as she turned towards one of the purple pianos on stage ostensibly to go play it, but also because she couldn't stand to watch Quinn walk out of the room.

**X X X X X **

After leaving Rachel in the auditorium, Quinn made her way to the coffee shop. A new look, a new attitude, a new acceptance of who she is didn't change the fact that she was a complete and utter coffee addict. When she walked in she saw Blaine sitting alone at a table looking around expectantly but he didn't seem to recognize her, not that she expected him to. They barely knew each other and as far as she knew he hadn't seen this version of her. She quickly placed her order and then made her way over to his table. "Meeting Kurt?" she asked.

"Hey, Quinn. Uh, Mike, Artie, and Puck actually. I thought it might be a good idea to bond with the other members of the group. This new look..."

"It's a means to an end," she said. "I promise I'm not having a nervous breakdown or anything. I don't want to interrupt guy time or whatever but can I offer you a word of advice?"

"Um, sure," he said, clearly still a little bewildered by her appearance.

"Don't let Schuester push you into the background. He will if you let him. He sees himself in Finn so Finn gets all the leads and so far there hasn't been anyone to really challenge him. Mike can't sing, Kurt's voice is too high to pair well with Rachel's for most traditional duets, as unfair as it is Artie's disability keeps him from looking like a leading man to most judges' eyes, Puck could be lead but he doesn't seem to want it and though he'd never admit it I think he's use to playing second fiddle to Finn. You don't have any of those limitations. You're a better singer than Finn, I think it goes without saying that you're a better dancer than Finn, and your voice works with Rachel's every bit as well, if not better. If she's being honest with herself, even Rachel knows that. You guys made it to Regionals last year and it wasn't your blazers or your White Boy Shuffle dancing that got you there, it was you. With you and Rachel as leads, there won't be anything stopping us from winning Nationals, certainly no poorly timed kisses."

"Us? I was under the impression that you'd quit the group."

"Just think about what I said, alright?"

"Uh, alright," he said clearly still lost in the conversation.

**A/N: Review and tell me what you think. Review and make suggestions. Review and sing me a song, idc. **


	4. A Dream of Days Gone By

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: It's crazy. I keep trying to write my other story and I keep coming back to this one. A lot of it is the mountains of support I get from you guys 10-15 reviews per chapter still kind of blows my mind. Anyway, as you'll see, I have incorporated parts of "I Am Unicorn" into the story but not nearly all of it and this will probably be the last episode I do so with just because it's too much hassle to wait around for the next one to air or to guess at what's going to happen.**

**Chapter 4**

**A Dream of Days Gone By**

That night, after the kiss in the auditorium, after she talk with Blaine, Quinn got a text message from Santana, "Saw sumthn ntrstng n auditorium 2day! Cum bk 2 Cheerios, Q." Quinn's response was a little more verbose so it came by way of e-mail: "Santana, I'm in love with Rachel, and I'm tired of hiding it. Aren't you tired of hiding? Anyway, tell whomever you like about me because I don't care and I won't play your games. The kiss is far less interesting than you think because it was completely coerced. She wanted me to come back to Glee and I told her that she had to kiss me and convince me that she liked it. I didn't buy it. She doesn't feel anything for me. I do, however, still care about her, so you can start rumors all you like but don't forget what I know about you and B that you are apparently scared of getting out. Think about it."

Four days later Quinn found herself in the auditorium once more, only this time she was there alone. She'd come hoping to find Rachel there only to be disappointed. She'd come seeking the peace that she felt when she heard Rachel's voice hoping to alleviate some of the mountain of stress that she was under, but she wasn't there. No one was. She's sat in the empty house and stared up at the stage trying to envision Rachel up there performing something… anything, but she just couldn't project enough to satisfy herself. Failing that, she went up onto the stage, looked out at the house, and tried to remember the feelings she felt at competition. She always loved those few minutes after a performance either in Glee or in Cheerios, the performance buzz. Quinn always felt amazing after a show, even when they didn't win.

However, now she couldn't think about a performance without thinking about Nationals and that stupid kiss and as much as she was over being jealous of Finn, she still didn't want that image in her head. She tried singing to herself as Rachel often did to try to summon the carefree spirit that lived in Rachel when they'd first met, but to no avail. Finally in a last ditch effort to recreate a happy memory in her mind's eye, Quinn walked backstage to the girl's dressing room. She dumped her bag on the floor near the door and marched over to the small couch. Quinn lay down in the floor perpendicular to the couch, throwing her feet and lower legs up on the scratchy cushion. She closed her eyes and pictured herself holding a wine glass in her hand trying to keep from spilling it as she laughed hysterically…

**X X X X X**

"Quinn, as I under… understands it," Rachel said, her words somewhat slurred, "the FDA recomments… recommends a glass of wine with dinner approximately once a week. You and I have finished an entire bottle in just over two hours." The brunette lay on her stomach on the couch in den at Quinn's house playing with the empty bottle, her legs tangled in Quinn's. The girls had been talking and laughing since they'd walked in the front door of the mansion. Rachel had turned on a movie for them to watch since that was the reason they'd left Mercedes' so early, but neither girl paid it much attention. "I believe we should stop."

"Whatever you say, Rach," Quinn said softly. Quinn certainly had no objections to that. She hadn't intended to drink as much as she already had. The plan had been for them to sip on a glass each to loosen them up a little, watch the movie and to chat and bond, but Rachel had killed her glass in three big gulps, apparently considerably more upset about being ditched by her boyfriend than she had previously let on, and poured herself a second. Quinn had followed suit and drank her entire first glass rather quickly to kill her nerves at being alone in her house with Rachel. That was a bad idea because the nerves didn't settle but now her tongue was considerably looser. She was scared was going to screw up the plan. Today's part of the plan only involved her sincerely apologizing for being horrible and offering her hand in friendship and hopefully Rachel accepting. All of which had happened. They were supposed to become friends over the next couple of weeks and then progress to something deeper, but they were already playing footsie with one another.

"I just do not wish for either of us to do anything to hurt ourselves because of our alcohol consumption," Rachel said.

"Hey, what did I tell you?" Quinn questioned. "While you're here, you're under my care, and nothing bad is going to happen to you. If you want us to stop drinking, that's fine, but don't worry about anyone getting hurt. You're safe here."

"If you want me to be unconcerned about someone being hurt, then I need you to get out of the floor. That cannot be good for your back," Rachel said as she turned herself over and sat up, "Come sit up here with me."

Quinn didn't need to hear that invitation a second time. She placed her glass on the table above her, and then turned herself bringing her legs down to the floor. She pushed off the floor with her elbows and hands to bring herself up to a standing position. The whole thing would have been very impressive except that the combination of standing up too fast and too much alcohol made her suddenly very dizzy. She managed to turn back to face Rachel and the couch before her dizziness got the better of her and she fell down onto the couch, landing face first in Rachel's lap. After the initial grunt of impact, Rachel said, "Your grace astounds me, Quinn," and broke out laughing hysterically.

Quinn couldn't help but laugh at the tiny girl's mirth. When she opened her eyes a moment later, however, she stopped laughing when she realized where she was. But for Rachel's skirt, she was effectively staring the girl in the crotch. She knew she should sit up, but she had no clue if Rachel would ever let her be this close to her again and she wanted to enjoy it just in case it never happened again. Knowing that even Rachel would soon realize how creepy their current position was, Quinn turned her head to face away from Rachel. "You're an oddly comfortable pillow, Rachel. I hope you don't mind but I'm just going to lie here for a minute until I regain my equilibrium."

Rachel ran her hand up and down Quinn's back tenderly saying, "You're welcome to as long as you need. Although I will point out that I was correct, we have consumed far too much alcohol."

"I honestly don't think I'm _that_ drunk, but even if we are, we're still perfectly safe. We don't have to leave here unless you want to. I've food and beverages… non-alcoholic beverages a plenty, movies to last for days, and Mercedes' house is just down the hill, so we will still have a great view of the fireworks show from the back terrace. There's a guest room and a pool house if you don't feel up to driving, or you're welcome to crash with me in my Queen-size bed if you don't want to be alone in a strange house," Quinn rambled. She found Rachel's touch somehow soothing and exciting at the same time: Soothing in that all of her concerns about whether Rachel would ever reciprocate her feelings kind of just melted away, and exciting because, well, Rachel was touching her.

They remained like that for a while. After a few minutes, Rachel started running her free hand through Quinn's short blonde hair. Feeling emboldened by this decidedly more intimate gesture, Quinn brought her arm that was hanging limply off the couch up to lightly caress the tanned, baby smooth skin of Rachel's bare feet and lower legs. When Rachel gave a small contented sigh, Quinn felt emboldened and started tracing invisible shapes on Rachel's knee.

Suddenly, Rachel's hands were gone and Rachel said, "Quinn, sit up."

Quinn cursed herself for being too forward. Rachel was just getting used to the idea of them as friends. She shouldn't have started to push it. Quinn took in a deep breath and tried to memorize the scent of her apricot body scrub and her Cool Breeze laundry detergent since it was probably the last time she'd be this close to it. She drew herself up to her knees next to Rachel and began the process of apologizing, "I'm sorry, Rach…"

The apology was cut off by Rachel's soft lips against hers and before she could even register what was happening, Quinn was being toppled over backwards by the petite brunette now very much on top of her. Rachel mashed her lips against Quinn's with determination and Quinn kissed her back matching her intensity. One hand went to the small of Rachel's back pressing their stomachs and hips together, the other when to the back of Rachel's neck holding their mouths together as tightly as Quinn could manage. Once again, for all she knew, this was the only time she was ever going to get to do this. She was damn well going to make it memorable… for both of them.

After another couple minutes of very intense lip lock, Quinn moved her attention to Rachel's neck and shoulder and after peppering most of the area with tender, chaste kisses, Quinn ghosted the tip of her tongue along Rachel's earlobe. She responded by craning her neck and pressing Quinn's mouth against an area of her neck just beneath her earlobe. Acting on instinct, Quinn ran her tongue across the area eliciting another small moan. She then nipped at her in the same place, biting her lightly, which was met with a sharp intake of breath from the singer. Finally, Quinn attached her lips to the apparently sensitive area and began to suck on it. A tremor ran through the tiny girl's whole body and Quinn could feel every bit of it as well. Rachel gasped, "Oh God, Quinn!"

Rachel's not so soft moan was magic to the blonde's ears. Unfortunately, it was of the wrong kind as Quinn suddenly found that she was magically and instantly sober and very aware of her current situation. She pushed on the girl's shoulders enough to create some separation between them, "Rachel, Rachel, Rachel we have to stop this. You're drunk and I won't take advantage of you like this."

"Quinn, while there is almost certainly undigested alcohol in my system, I can assure you that I am _keenly_ aware of what we are currently doing and if you stop again before I tell you to, I may just die."

"Rachel…"

"Quinn, please, I need you," Rachel said breathlessly. Those five words were all it took to shatter Quinn's resolve. She reattached herself to Rachel's neck and this time her hands moved down to lightly caress Rachel's calves and the bottoms of her thighs peeking out from beneath the girl's skirt. The tiny diva began to moan once more, "Quinn… Quinn…

**X X X X X**

"QUINN!" Rachel's shout shocked the pink haired girl back to reality. She was lying on the couch in the dressing room just as she had been in her daydream, but Rachel was standing over her rather than laying on her. "I know that you've recast yourself as a juvenile delinquent but please tell me that you are not _squatting _in the auditorium."

"No," Quinn said. She sat up and repeated, "No, I came here looking for you. I was hoping to find you doing your thing so I could…" Quinn trailed off shaking her head.

Rachel sat next to her and ran a hand back and forth across Quinn's shoulders. "Quinn, whatever else we are or may become, we are friends. You know that you can talk to me."

"Your mom is dangling visitation with Beth in front of me but she says I can't see her while I look like this."

"That insufferable woman, I'll go speak with her right now," Rachel went to stand but Quinn's hand on her knee stopped her.

"No, Rachel, as much as I hate to admit it, she's perfectly within her rights to not want me around like this. She doesn't know why I'm doing this. Only you do and you probably don't even fully understand it, and I'd go back blonde and back to the dresses in a second for Beth but I know she's going to want me back in Glee Club too. I just know it," Quinn said with several tears falling as she spoke.

"Well, Quinn, I know a lot of other things got said last week, but we really _do_ still need you back in Glee. Though it was an excuse to come see you, it wasn't an out and out lie."

"But if I come back before you've made a choice, I just feel like you're just going to be that much more likely to stay with him, so I'm left choosing between the two of you and you know that I would have to choose her."

"Of course you have to choose your daughter, Quinn," Rachel replied, "I wouldn't let you choose otherwise, but..."

"And I won't be able to contain myself anymore when you sing. The very first time the group sees me while you're performing, they'll all be able to tell how I feel about you and that's fine, but Santana and Brittany and probably Kurt will know that something happened between us. Brittany would hug us both and publically congratulate us before either of us could explain that we're still on the down low, Santana won't be able to resist saying things to hurt and antagonize you, and Kurt is Finn's brother. He won't be able to not tell Finn about it. I just don't want to see you hurt, sweetie."

"Can I tell you about my day and why I wasn't here when you came looking?" Quinn nodded. "After school, they were holding auditions for West Side Story for which I had already blown away any potential competition with a stellar performance of 'Somewhere.'"

"Of course, you did," Quinn commented with a confident smile.

"Thus after school, I went home briefly to change and then spent the next two hours at Mr. Hummel's body shop watching Finn work while I talked to him about his plans beyond high school. I tried to encourage him and told him that if he worked hard this year that he could go to NYADA with Kurt and I."

Quinn furrowed her brow and said, "Didn't you say that school only takes about twenty or so students a year? You do realize that if they took the top five all round performers from our Glee Club that that _still _wouldn't include Finn, right? And that would be 25% of their total enrollment from this one dinky school."

"Of course," Rachel replied. "I don't actually expect him to get into the school that I'm not even certain that I can get into. The purpose of the statement was to see if he was even remotely willing to entertain the idea of moving to New York with me as you've already plainly stated that you have every intention of doing. He didn't even seem to consider the idea. It would seem that your predictions for Finn's future seem terribly accurate. God help me he seemed almost to look forward to staying in Lima and working for Burt for the rest of his life, which is fine for him if that's what makes him happy, but I cannot settle for someone with such little ambition in life."

Quinn's eyes suddenly went wide as she turned to look at Rachel, "What are you saying?"

"I am saying that the time has come for you to fully understand why choosing between the two of you has been so very difficult for me, but this is something that I also need to relate to my fathers and I don't think that I have the strength to say it twice in one day. Will you please accompany me to my house so that I can say what I need to say and then you can decide whether or not you still wish to be with me?"

"That decision was made a long time ago, Rach. If you need to talk to me about something, you absolutely can, but I assure you that nothing you're going to say is going to change the way I feel about you or make me want to be with you any less."

"Quinn, I appreciate your supreme confidence more than I can adequately describe at this time. I wish that I shared it, but I do not," Rachel said sadly. "I need you to come and listen and contemplate."

"Of course, sweetie," Quinn said taking Rachel's hand in hers, thrilled at Rachel's smile of acceptance of the gesture.


	5. The Big Talk

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: We come at last to the big reveal. The definite diverging point between this story and Season 3. I hope you guys like it. Thank you again for all the reviews**

**Chapter 5**

**The Big Talk**

"Daddies?" Rachel called out as she and Quinn walked through the front door. She deposited her bag near the couch in the family room.

"In the kitchen, Rach," came a very warm, deep voice. Quinn knew The Berrys by reputation, of course. Everyone in their horribly narrow-minded town made it their business to know as much as possible about the only openly gay couple in town. The booming voice had been that of Leroy Berry, Rachel's Daddy, an ER doctor born and raised in Lima. His husband was Hiram Berry, obviously Rachel's biological father whom she called Dad, a corporate attorney, originally from Columbus.

"We were just starting to worry about you," Hiram said, as the two girls made their way into the kitchen. The two men turned and saw that they had company.

"Dad, Daddy, this is Quinn Fabray. Quinn, these are my fathers, my Daddy Leroy and my Dad Hiram. You, of course, will call them Dr. and Mr. Berry or sir since you have manners, and they will insist that you call them by their given names because we are decidedly less formal than all that."

"She's right," Leroy said holding up his hands to show them covered in food, obviously in preparation for dinner, "I'd offer to shake your hand, but…"

"I understand," Quinn said, "It's a pleasure to meet you… both of you."

"Good to meet you," Hiram said, adding softly, "finally."

"Daddies, I must apologize for my tardiness. As you know, I went to Mr. Hummel's garage to spend some time with Finn. Afterwards, I realized I had accidently left my bag at school and returned to pick it up where I ran into Quinn. Having things that we need to discuss, I invited her over. I hope that is alright."

"Sure," Leroy said.

"Obviously, she accepted the invitation, but expressed a need to change clothes, so we stopped by her house first."

Quinn had, in fact, insisted that she was going nowhere near The Berry house in her Skank clothes, so they had gone back to Quinn's house, which Quinn was thankful to have found empty. She hadn't told her mom about her and Rachel or the fact that she was gay. She wasn't sure when or how she was going to do it but she was certain that she wasn't going to be doing it today. The girls went to Quinn's room where Quinn shed her Skank clothes in favor of a sleeveless white v-neck top, jeans, and a pair of chunky heels. She also took out her nose ring and did her best to plaster over the hole with makeup. She wished she'd had time to beach her hair back out, but she didn't so the pink would just have to be part of the explanation.

"Alright," Leroy said, "you girls want to go upstairs and do your talking? Dinner will be ready in about an hour."

"Actually, Daddy, when I say that there are things that we need to discuss, I mean all four of us."

Hearing the fear and concern in her voice, both men instantly dropped what they were doing, literally, and turned their attention to their daughter. Hiram said, "Is everything okay?"

Rachel just shook her head slightly and said, "It's rather involved, can we sit please?" The men quickly washed their hands and ushered the girls back to the family room. They all quickly took seats. "I…" Rachel started and stopped, "Allow me to preface this by saying that this is going to be hard for me to say as I'm certain it will be hard for you to hear. Unfortunately, there is quite a lot for me to say so please bear with me."

"It's okay, baby girl," Leroy said, "Take your time. Say what you need to say."

"We always talk about everything," Rachel began looking at her fathers, sitting together on the love seat, "you've always been there to listen to me, and in response, I've always told you guys everything… until recently." Rachel took a breath to steady herself. "Recently, I've been lying to you, mostly by omission, but it was all precipitated by one out and out lie." To their credit, Leroy and Hiram maintained their calm, even demeanors though it was obvious they were highly concerned about the forthcoming confession. "On the Fourth of July, I went to Mercedes' house for a pool party and I told you that I'd been invited to stay over the two succeeding nights. That was a lie. I was only at Mercedes' house for a couple of hours before I was abandoned by Finn so that he could go to Hardin County to procure fireworks with Noah. Everyone else at the party was with their respective significant others. I was extremely bored and furious at Finn for running off and leaving me. Quinn came to my rescue and we began talking. She invited me to go with her to her house to watch movies with her so I did. We laughed and talked and had more fun than I'd had in a long while, and while there was a certain amount of alcohol involved, I know that I wasn't inebriated when I made the decision to kiss Quinn." Widened eyes jumped from Rachel to Quinn and back again. "And, as the saying goes, one thing led to another and Quinn and I ended up having sex for most of the next two days."

"Two days?" both men said at once.

"Well, not constantly," Rachel clarified, "We… well, we slept at various points."

The two men looked at each other briefly before Leroy spoke, "Rachel, baby girl, that's certainly a hell of a revelation, and we're definitely not happy with you lying to us about where you were or that you felt like you couldn't tell us this sooner, but it's possible that you over sold this revelation a little bit."

"Possible but not likely," Rachel countered, "since I'm not done confessing. After our time together it suddenly dawned on me that I still have a boyfriend, and while I wish I could say that it was just guilt that caused me to run out of your life," Rachel said turning to Quinn, "I know that if it was simply guilt, then I'd have already come clean. If I'd been unfaithful with another boy, I'd have already told Finn and let him break up with me as he deserves to. I still haven't done that, he still doesn't know. I can only conclude that my actions since that day were a severe case of gay panic. I'm sorry, Quinn." Quinn just nodded and pointed back to her fathers. "After I left Quinn's I shut her out of my life until school started back last week, and partly to assuage my guilt and partly to prove that I wasn't gay, I… I began carrying on a sexual relationship with Finn. I've been stringing him along since then knowing full well that my affection lay elsewhere."

"Honey," said Hiram, "I'm sorry to interrupt but why would you of all people have gay panic? I've always been so amazingly proud of how accepting you've always been over everyone."

"I've actually given that some serious thought over the last week," she responded almost immediately, "Since before I was really even old enough to understand what they were saying, people have been telling me that being the child of two gay men would cause me to be gay, and while I understand that you cannot cause someone to be gay, I also didn't want those bigots to have the satisfaction of thinking they were right. And while I don't know that I am, in fact, gay. I do know that I have very strong feelings for Quinn." Quinn reached over and took Rachel's hand in hers. She could feel the tension in the smaller girl's grip. Quinn had hoped that the explanation of her reasons for her panic were what she needed to tell Quinn but something in the grip of her hand and the tension in her face obvious to Quinn's keen eye meant that there was still another bomb to drop.

"And how do you feel, Quinn?" Hiram asked.

Quinn gave Rachel's hand a little squeeze of re-assurance. "Hiram, Leroy, I've been in love with Rachel for a long time now, years now. I kept it to myself forever because at first, I couldn't or wouldn't accept it, and by the time I did, I didn't think there was any way Rachel would return those feelings. I didn't set out for the Fourth to happen as it did. I had no designs on seducing your daughter…"

"I seduced her, actually. Quinn tried to resist my charms but I would have none of it," Rachel said. "For Quinn, it was love at first sight, so she never stood a chance."

"I don't think they want to hear that, Rae," Quinn said. "My plan was to make friends with her starting on the Fourth and then _slowly_ see if she would be amenable to more. That's not how it worked out. Rachel means the world to me, and if you guys really do share everything then you probably know I haven't always had the best way of showing it. I let stupid societal pressures convince me to do and say horrible things but, as Rachel can tell you, that's not me anymore. If she'll have me I'll spend the rest of my days making it up to her."

"I certainly hope you still think that after I finish saying what I have to say," Rachel said to Quinn.

"You're saying there's _more_?" Hiram asked.

"There is, and I wish to apologize ahead of time. If I had just spoken with any of you first this could have been prevented and for that I'm eternally regretful but..." Rachel was choking back tears and having trouble breathing. She felt like she was on the verge of passing out until Quinn squeezed her hand. Rachel wrapped the other girl's hand in both of hers. "I'm so sorry, Quinn. I shouldn't have run out on you that day."

"No, sweetie, you shouldn't have, but we're here now," Quinn said raising their joined hands up to kiss her on the knuckles, "That's what counts and whatever this is about, it isn't worth all this."

"It is," Rachel countered, "because after I tell you, you aren't going to want to be with me."

"Rachel, I assure that nothing you could tell me right now will change the way I feel, so please, before your fathers' heads explode, tell us what has you so incredibly worked up."

Rachel took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before blowing in back out through her mouth to steady herself once again. She locked eyes with Quinn and said, "I am banking everything on that being true." She took one more deep breath and said, "Quinn, Daddies, I'm pregnant." Rachel felt Quinn's hands pull away from hers and Rachel began to freak. She knew saying this would ruin any chance for them. Quinn couldn't be expected to go through the drama of teenage pregnancy _again_. Rachel didn't blame her but that did mean that Quinn rejecting her was going to hurt any less.

A second later, Quinn's arms snaked around Rachel's neck and Quinn pulled the brunette hard against her chest. When she felt her face hit the material of Quinn's shirt, Rachel turned her face into the other girl and began to bawl. Quinn cradled Rachel's head against her and let her cry herself out. After a couple of minutes, Quinn leaned down and rested her cheek on top of the smaller girl's head. Hiram and Leroy were sitting stock still, clearly stunned at the revelation. Suddenly Rachel stopped crying as her body convulsed. Quinn knew what came next and quickly let her go and the tiny diva was off like a shot. The sound of Rachel retching into the toilet finally broke the men from their stupor. By then Quinn was already halfway to the bathroom and they stirred to action.

Quinn walked in the bathroom and found Rachel perched on the side of the bathtub as the toilet bowl slowly refilled with clean water. "Morning sickness?"

"I think it was more of just emotional overload. I sometimes have that reaction in moments of extreme stress." Quinn nodded her understanding sitting down next to Rachel. "Are you… are you really not mad at me?"

Quinn wrapped an arm around Rachel's shoulders and said, "Why would I be mad, sweetie?"

"Because I'm pregnant with someone else's child? Because I got pregnant because I was being stupid not being able to deal with how I feel about you? How about because I ran away from you after…"

"Sweetie, listen to me. I'll just say this and I'll keep saying it for as long as I need to until you understand this. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing is going to change the way I feel about you. Two years of denial didn't change it. A year of trying to move on didn't change it. You panicking and running out that day didn't change it. Finding out that you started fucking Finn didn't change it. No, I'm not mad. I was mad when you ran out but I know why you did it, so I got over it. I'm not mad at you for being pregnant, because you didn't do it on purpose, and I'm not mad that you got pregnant because you couldn't deal with your feelings, Rachel, because _I _got pregnant because I couldn't deal with _my_ feelings for you."

"Really?"

"Really," Quinn confirmed.

"But isn't that all the more reason why you shouldn't have to deal with my pregnancy? Isn't it too much for to have to deal with a second time?"

"No," Quinn countered quickly without a second's hesitation, "it's all the more reason why I am the perfect person to be there for you, because I know what you're going through and I know what to expect. One way or the other, I'm going to be here for you. If you don't want to be with me because being pregnant and being in a new relationship is too much, then I guess I understand that, but…"

"I don't… or rather, I do," Rachel growled at herself for her lack of clarity. "I do want to be with you, Quinn. I've wanted that ever since my first horrifically unsatisfying encounter with Finn, but you know that this will inexorably link our lives to his, and I still have to figure out how to tell him about the baby… oh, and break up with him, and in which order to I do those things. Then…"

"Whoa! Yes, Rachel, there are many things that have to be considered and accomplished and telling Finn is certainly foremost of them but you don't have to figure it all out right now, okay? And I know the road we're about to travel down. I am aware of the difficulties ahead and I'm in." Rachel smiled for the first time in a while. "Now, we both keep qualifying this statement, so I'd like to make it clear. Are you my girl?"

"Yes," said Rachel without hesitation or doubt, "Are you mine?"

"Always was, always will be," Quinn answered. "Now come on, you should go lay down for a little while until dinner's ready. Pregnant women need lots of rest."

"I agree, on the condition that you come to lay down with me," Rachel said. Rather than answer, Quinn stood and offered a hand to Rachel, which the brunette accepted. In Rachel's room, the girls found her bed already turned down and two bottles of vitamin water already waiting on them. Rachel took a big drink of one of them and then lay down on her side. Quinn wrapped the tiny girl up in her arms, holding her tight. "I've missed this so much," Rachel said quietly.

"Me too," Quinn whispered against Rachel's ear.

The girls were quiet and still sharing a comfortable silence for a long time until Rachel broke it, "Quinn?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of the name Elphaba for a girl?"

**A/N: So? What do you think? The next chapter will be the rest of the night, dinner and discussion with the daddies.**


	6. Tentative Agreements

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: So apparently I caught most of you by surprise with the last chapter, to which I can only say good, if the story was predictable it wouldn't be interesting, right? Hope everyone enjoys this. Thanks to everyone who reads and big thanks to those who review.**

**Chapter 6**

**Tentative Agreements**

"Girls," Rachel and Quinn were awoken from their brief nap by Leroy's light knock on the open bedroom door. They both looked up at him. "Dinner's gonna be ready in just a minute. Quinn, we made enough for you. I hope you're staying."

Quinn cleared her throat and said, "I'd love to, thank you."

"Come down when you're ready," he said with a smile to his daughter

Rachel said softly, "Thank you, Daddy." He nodded at her and walked away. "They're going to want me to talk about it," Rachel said still softly, "the pregnancy, I mean."

"Might help," Quinn said concern in her voice. "Have you talked about it? Finn?" Rachel shook her head. "Kurt?" Again she shook her head.

"I couldn't run the risk that they would tell my dads, or they would tell Mr. Schuester and he would tell my dads or some variation thereof, and I didn't want them to find out from anyone else. I just don't know that I'm ready to have this conversation."

"Because then it's real? If you talk to your dads about it, then you're really pregnant and you're really having a baby?" Quinn supplied.

Rachel closed her eyes and smiled slightly, "I keep forgetting how well you know me."

"I do know you, Rachel, very well," Quinn said, "but in this particular case, I'm just drawing off my own memories. I put off telling my parents for the same reason… well, other reasons, too, but that one was ever present, but let me hit you with some harsh truth, sweetie. You _are _pregnant, you _are _having this baby whether you talk to anyone about it or not, and not talking about it won't stop it from happening and will only make it harder to talk about later." Rachel didn't respond. "Think of it this way. The worst of it is over. They know, and they haven't kicked you out, so it could be much worse."

"Somehow, despite knowing that to be true, it doesn't dispel any of my dread at doing this, though thank you for trying. Still, no use putting it off any longer I guess. I need to eat, after all." Quinn made it to her feet while Rachel was talking herself into it. The pink haired girl offered a hand to the brunette with a hopeful smile. Rachel took her hand and allowed Quinn to lead her downstairs. Familiar aromas assailed her senses on the way, and suddenly Rachel realized exactly how hungry she was. She'd missed her traditional mid-afternoon snack while spending time with Finn and silently cursed herself for not eating better.

"Hey, baby girl," Leroy said, "you feeling better, I hope?"

"Considerably," Rachel answered, "while I am uncertain if it was the very restful power nap, the relief of finally having the air cleared, the company," Rachel smiled at Quinn, "the forthcoming food which smells delicious, or some combination of the above, I do feel markedly better."

The Berry men served up the food, two portabella mushroom sandwiches for Rachel and Hiram with mixed veggies. Leroy said, "Now, Quinn, these two are vegans and there's another mushroom if you want, but I thought you might care to be a carnivore with me and help me put away one of these bacon cheeseburgers." He produced two plates carrying what had to be the biggest, juiciest hamburgers she'd ever seen.

Quinn's eyes went wide and she couldn't quite be sure but she might also have been drooling a little… or a lot. "You… are the best dad ever," Quinn said smiling and quickly accepting the plate taking in the aroma of the thing. "Thank you. This is exactly what I needed at the end of an emotional rollercoaster of a day."

Hiram smiled at the girl's graciousness. "Quinn, I have to say, you are nothing like I expected you to be. Like you've said, we've heard some horror stories about you but…" he trailed off seemingly searching for the right way of saying what was on his mind but not finding much.

"I'm sure everything Rachel told you was entirely true, and honestly I was probably worse than she said, and if you'd met me six months ago, you'd have seen for yourselves how horrible I could be, but I'm honestly not that girl anymore. I'm very sorry you had to have your daughter come home upset so often and sorrier still that I was the cause of so much misery. If I could just explain…"

Hiram cut her off with a wave, "We appreciate your apology, we do, but you don't need to explain denial to us. We've both been there, we know how hard it can be to accept feelings that you think you don't want, can't accept, or as I imagine was the case for you that you weren't allowed to express."

Over the next half an hour, the four of them ate and Quinn fielded questions from the Berry men, mostly pertaining to hers and Rachel's history and Quinn's feelings for their daughter. Quinn confirmed for them that though Rachel was unsure of her sexuality, Quinn identified herself as gay, feeling that having spent years trying to find a suitable boyfriend to live up to her image and utterly failing that she appeared to have no interest in men. All of the questions were met with absolutely honest answers, even when the honestly was less than flattering. The men were impressed with her confidence and her sense of self.

At first Rachel was confused as to why Quinn, who moments ago was so encouraging of Rachel to talk about the pregnancy was now willingly avoiding the subject but then Rachel figured it out. Quinn was covering for her. She knew Rachel was concerned about talking about the subject so she was enduring the third degree from her fathers to give Rachel as much time as she could. Quinn was protecting her, something that no one save her fathers had ever done for her. The brunette excused herself nominally to go to the restroom, but really to go give herself on of her patented pep talks.

When she was gone, Leroy said, "Okay, I've been dying to ask this since Rachel mentioned it earlier. Was it really love at first sight?" There was a very familiar excitement in the large man's voice. Quinn got the sense that Rachel's flare for the dramatic was most like conditioned, rather than genetic, but then again considering who her mother was, maybe it was both.

"Well," Quinn paused to take a sip of her water, "Rachel likes to think so. Honestly, I think it was more of infatuation at first sight that grew into love very quickly, but really that's kind of splitting hairs and my girl is a romantic so if she wants to think it's love at first sight, who am I to tell her otherwise?"

"So what's your favorite part of our daughter?" asked Hiram.

"I'm pretty fond of everything from about the floor up," Quinn replied jokingly.

"Aren't you a sweet talker?" asked Rachel as she walked back in.

"But if I had to pick one part," Quinn continued, "then the answer is still pretty easy, her voice."

The men "aww"-ed but Rachel shot a glance at her and said, "Are you just saying that because you know that my voice is _my _favorite part of me?"

Quinn was genuinely shocked at the question, "Definitely not. Rachel, your voice is the soundtrack of my sexual awakening. The first time I noticed a girl as anything other than another person was you humming to yourself in the hallways. The first time I knew I had feelings for a girl was watching you sing on MySpace…"

"And making horrible comments about my videos," Rachel interjected.

"I'll come back to that. Hearing you sing 'On My Own' sophomore year was when I knew I was in love with you. When I broke out in hysterical tears at Sectionals that year, it wasn't baby hormones. The first time I thought I might just be able to accept myself as gay was when you sang 'Firework' and try singing that song again, by the way. See if it doesn't make you blush. When you sang 'Get it Right' at Regionals, a song that you _wrote_, a song I inadvertently inspired you to write no less, I knew I'd never love anyone as much as I do you, and that I had to make an honest play at your affections. So, yes, though I'm fond of the whole package, your voice is by far my favorite part of you. Now as for your videos, yes I and many others posted some pretty nasty things on there, but not all of the comments were nasty, right?"

"No," Rachel responded, "there was one very nice, very enthusiastic poster who always had something encouraging to say. I always joked that she was my first fan, after my daddies, of course."

"And what was this girl's name?"

"Lucy," Rachel said.

"And what's my first name?"

"Lu…" Rachel's eyes went wide, "Quinn!"

"No, Quinn's my middle name," the pink haired girl said playfully. "My first name is Lucy," she said for the benefit of the Berry men who smiled at the implication.

Rachel just sat stunned but with a warm smile on her face. It was her genuine smile rather than her stage smile. Quinn hadn't seen it much lately and was glad that it had started to make its return to the brunette's face. "Quinn, Can I ask you something completely unrelated to how incredibly sweet you can be when you want?"

"Anything," Quinn responded simply.

"Why the pink hair and the trashy clothes? You said that I was the only one who understood why you were doing it, but I don't. I mean, is it just a cry for attention?"

"No," Quinn said demurely, "it's… it's stupid."

"All the same, I'd like to know."

"Okay," she relented, "for the sake of those at this table who haven't seen me at school, I've been dressing pretty trashy the last week and a half, hanging out with a group of girls who call themselves The Skanks. Also, important to note is that up until this summer, I had been pretty obsessed with my image," Hiram and Leroy nodded in unison and Quinn turned her attention back to Rachel and continued, "Now I warned you that this was stupid but here goes. After the Fourth, after you uh…"

"Panicked and fled from your life?"

"I was going to say 'left' but, okay, sure. After that, I thought that maybe you thought that despite my confessions of love that I wouldn't risk my reputation for you, so I thought that if I threw my reputation away willingly, that maybe you'd come back to me."

"That's… Quinn, that's not stupid. That's incredibly sweet," Rachel responded as she wondered exactly how many times this girl could completely blow her mind. She continued more playfully, "While I greatly desire to kiss you right now, I refuse to do so while you still taste like dead animal flesh."

"That's fine," Quinn responded quickly, "because I'm pretty sure I told you last week that I wouldn't kiss you again until after you've broken up with Finn and last I checked you haven't done that."

"And I'm afraid I have to interrupt the sweetness," said Hiram, "and use the mention of his name to steer this conversation to a slightly more serious subject."

"Yes, of course," Rachel said, "The pregnancy. I am ashamed to admit that I am woefully under prepared for this. As you all know, I prefer to have plans for all possible contingencies but this was not one I had prepared for. My plan was to abstain from sexual activities until I was mentally, emotionally, and financially ready to have children. That obviously did not happen, and since then… well, suffice to say my same sex feelings weren't the only things I was in denial about. I haven't been to see a doctor. I didn't know which ones were your friends, Daddy, and I didn't want you to find out from anyone but me. I missed my last period three weeks ago. The one before that was right on time, so therefore I can assume that I am between three and seven weeks along. While I understand that there are options, and I am absolutely in favor of a woman's right to choose what happens to her body, I've always known that it was never something I could do, myself, so I _am_ having this baby. I don't yet know what I will do once I've had it, keep it or give it to a loving family who will care for it, that's something I need discuss with Finn. As to how I became pregnant, Finn and I _did_ use protection but in my haste I failed to properly pay attention to which type of condoms he was using or more precisely which size, and while I do not wish to get into too intimate a detail, I will say that Finn thought better of himself than he should have and there was some leakage." Quinn shuttered involuntarily at this mention. "He doesn't know. No one outside this room knows. I suppose I have to tell people, Finn, Mr. Schuester, Glee Club, but I don't know how."

"We can figure that out," Quinn said, "but…"

"But you need to see a doctor," Leroy jumped in, "We need to know that everything's okay with you and with the baby." Quinn and Hiram nodded along as he spoke. "I'll call Michael Landry. He'll make room for you tomorrow after school."

"Thank you, Daddy," Rachel said, as Leroy went to get his phone. She turned her attention to Hiram, "Dad, did you have questions?"

"I did but I think you answered them all, honey."

"Then may ask what is to be my punishment?"

"For lying to us for where you were for two days? Your daddy and I will come up with something. For getting pregnant, I think your body will punish you enough," he said.

"Can Quinn and I retire to the family room? I'd like for her to hold me until she has to go home. I'll attend the dishes afterwards."

"Don't worry about the dishes," Leroy said walking back to the table, "You've got an appointment for 4:00 tomorrow with Dr. Landry. Be there."

"Of course, Daddy, and thank you again," Rachel said.

"You're welcome, baby girl."

The Berry men set about clearing the table while Quinn and Rachel went into the family room. Quinn sat down on the large sectional and opened up arms inviting Rachel in. The brunette curled up in front of her resting her head against Quinn's chest. Quinn wrapped the smaller girl up tight in her arms and held her close and they sat like that for nearly an hour without either girl speaking. Hiram and Leroy went upstairs to let the girls have their privacy. Finally, Rachel looked up at Quinn and said, "Can I ask you a question, Quinn?"

"You don't have to ask me if you can ask a question. You can just ask, sweetie."

"What are we doing, Quinn?"

"I believe the common term is cuddling," she replied.

"I mean, are we… are we dating? I mean, we haven't even been on a date. And what about telling people? Are we going to be out?"

"I'll take you on a date," Quinn said, "anywhere you want to go."

"I can't accept a date from you, yet, Quinn. Firstly, I've yet to break up with Finn and you haven't sung to me yet."

"I haven't… sung to you?"

"All of my male suitors have had to sing before I agreed to begin seeing them. I see no reason why that should change just because you're a girl or because we've already been intimate. Am I not worth a song to you, Quinn?"

"Sweetie, if you want a song, I'll sing you a song," Quinn responded, "I'll sing you a symphony."

"You can't sing a symphony, Quinn," Rachel said, "They don't have lyrics."

"Fine," Quinn replied, "a concert, then. You want me to do it now or is this an 'in Glee Club' type thing?"

"In Glee, and one song should be sufficient. Would you like help with song selection?"

"You want to help pick out the song that I serenade you with?" Quinn chuckled at the thought. "No, I've got a song already. I may have played this scene out in my head a few hundred times, although most of the time it was a method of convincing you that I had feelings for you rather than just my first step in our courtship. So I guess we're telling the Glee Club about us, then?"

"Do you mind?" Rachel asked, "I know you said something about not being out last week."

"I said we didn't have to if you don't want to," Quinn clarified, "The club is going to know about me the very next time they see the way I react to you singing. I know without doubt that my ability to act indifferent towards you is gone. The only thing in question was whether or not we tell them that you reciprocate. It could just be some unrequited thing, which is sort of what I already told Santana."

"You told Santana?"

"She saw us last week in the auditorium. I told her I was extorting you because you wanted me back in Glee. Don't worry. She won't tell anyone."

"Out of the kindness of her heart?" questioned Rachel.

"Because she and I are friends and because I've got the same dirt on her as she has on me."

"Santana's in love with me too?"

"Not you, silly, Brittany," Quinn said. A puzzled look came across Rachel's face. Quinn spoke again, "They've been off and on for, I don't know, years I think. Longer than I've known them."

"No, I know that," Rachel said, "I was just… it was supposed to be a secret?"

Quinn laughed a deep belly laugh at the question. "I know, right? But San thinks it is, so it's enough to keep her in line."

Rachel shrugged, "Regardless, I don't want to make you look like some pathetic stalker. We can tell the Glee Club. Any time one of us keeps a secret from the group it almost never works out well, but would you mind if we kept it just to the club for now? I'm not exactly eager to give the student body yet another reason to hate me."

"Understandable. So tomorrow is shaping up to be a big day, you have to tell Finn about the baby and dump him. I have to get Mr. Schuester to let me back into Glee Club and sing to you. Then we have an OB appointment."

"We?"

"Sorry," Quinn said, "Shouldn't have presumed. You want to go on your own or with your dads."

"No," Rachel responded quickly, "I'd really love to have you along. I just wasn't sure you'd want to come. The horrors and headaches of teenage pregnancy aren't something that you should have to be subjected to a second time. You don't have to, just because we're…"

"You said you were my girl, right?" interrupted Quinn.

"Right."

"Then, sweetie, your problems are my problems. If you need or want me to been with you at the doctor's then I'm there. Hell, I want to be there, because I want us to work out long term and if you keep the baby that's going to make me a part of his or her life, so I want to be there."

Rachel smiled and said, "Elphaba has two mommies?"

"Oh God," Quinn groaned, "I know you love Wicked but that name will be the bane of her existence."

"What about Beth?" asked Rachel.

"That would be _my_ daughter's name," Quinn answered. "It would be a little confusing for our two kids to have the same name."

"No, I mean, if we do work out… as you say, long term, won't it be confusing for Beth to have a little brother or sister that's also her niece or nephew?"

"Maybe, but no more confusing than it will be to have a big sister who's also her step-mom," Quinn said with a shrug. "Do you think of Beth as your little sister? I mean, I know to the letter of the law you are sisters and once you turn eighteen you'd be her legal next-of-kin should anything happen to Shelby, but do you feel a sisterly connection?"

"I don't guess so," Rachel said, "I mean it's hard to say as I've never even met her, but I doubt I would, mostly because Shelby and I don't have any real connection."

"So why sweat it? Beth's relationship to you and your baby will be whatever it ends up being. Can't really control it, so why worry about it?"

"Have you met me?" Rachel asked with a chuckle.

"Fair enough," Quinn laughed back, "Who knows maybe being pregnant will teach you to pick you battles. Can I take you out tomorrow night?"

"Quinn, I can't accept a date with you while…"

"…while you're still with Finn," Quinn finished for her, "You know we had sex right? I fucked your brains out for days. I took your virginity. You carried on a sexual relationship with him for weeks to try to assuage your guilt. Then last Friday I kissed you again after you practically begged me to. On the list of things that we've done behind his back that Finn might be upset by, you accepting a date with me is probably pretty far down the list… but okay, fine, would you agree to tentative plans contingent on you breaking up with Finn and me serenading you in the manner in which you are accustomed?"

"Under those circumstances… I'd love to."


	7. Smile

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: I keep rolling right along on this story to the detriment of my other one. I'm going to make a valiant effort to put in some work on it this weekend, in case any of you are crossover readers of "By Chance". You guys with the reviews are killing me. I love you guys.**

**Chapter 7**

**Smile**

Rachel wasn't one to delay the inevitable, at least once she _accepted_ something as inevitable she didn't, and so it was that she, a once again blonde Quinn, and Kurt were waiting in the choir room for the arrival of Finn fresh off of football practice, before home room the next morning. Rachel was intensely nervous. She'd never broken up with anyone before, well besides Puck, but they'd only been seeing each other a few days and there really wasn't anything between them to break up. Finn and Jesse had both dumped her. She still hadn't decided which piece of news to give him first, she'd fallen asleep contemplating it and had spent the morning still mulling it over, and she'd decided to let him pick.

"Hey, Rach," Finn's voice reached the room before he did, "what's up?" The tall boy noticed the other people in the room as soon as he entered. "Hey, Kurt, Quinn, you look like you again. I mean, you know you dyed your hair back and stuff."

"I did," she said.

"Are you gonna be back in Glee?"

"I am."

"That's awesome," he said, "Rachel, you wanted to talk about something. Did you want to go somewhere more private?"

"Actually, Finn, I asked both Quinn and Kurt to be here for this," Rachel explained.

"Oh… okay. Why?" he asked.

Rachel said, "Because what we have to talk about isn't going to be easy for me to say nor do I imagine will it be easy for you to hear, so Quinn is here to be emotional support for me and Kurt is here to be emotional support for you so that you don't feel ganged up on," Rachel looked to Kurt, "and because he's my friend I know that I can trust him with certain information that I would rather not become public knowledge just yet, and before you protest otherwise, Kurt has already sworn on his Marc Jacobs collection that he will not take sides in this but rather just be here for you."

"So you're saying it's like bad news?" asked Finn

"There's bad news and there is life altering news," Rachel explained, "and I honestly don't know which to give you first so I thought I'd let you choose."

Finn's usual look of confusion when he was listening to Rachel worsened. "The bad news… I guess?"

"The bad news is that I'm breaking up with you …"

"What? Why?"

"Numerous reasons, Finn, not the least of which is that I'm not happy with you. You don't care about anything that I care about, you don't listen to me when I talk, you don't understand me when you do, and" Rachel paused to cast a look at the other two in the room, "you two may want to cover your ears and hum softly to yourselves to avoid hearing more than you care to." They both heeded this advice as Rachel looked back to Finn, "You don't please me sexually. Not once have you even come close."

Finn's eyes bulged at hearing Rachel talk about the subject in public, "I… I didn't know."

"Which just makes it all the worse," the brunette said, "Not only do you not please me, but you don't care enough to notice that you're not pleasing me. Word to the wise, Finn, chanting 'mailman' over and over may be beneficial to your premature ejaculation problems, but it doesn't really help me at all nor do I expect that it will do anything for you next girlfriend. You might want to seek medical help."

"But you said we'd be together until graduation," Finn said.

Rachel nodded to Quinn and Kurt that they could stop humming. "Finn, I never committed to being with you for the entire year until graduation and even if I did this wasn't some business deal. I didn't sign a contract. I'm free to change my mind, and if I'm being honest I think us getting back together after Nationals was a mistake."

"I agree," Kurt chimed in.

"Dude, you're supposed to be on my side," Finn barked.

"No, I'm not supposed to be on anyone's side, and I'm not, I just happen to agree with what Rachel said. I love you both, dearly, and that's why watching the two of you together is so _painful_. You aren't right for each other. Aside from Glee Club, you two have absolutely nothing in common. As Rachel said, you don't care about anything that she cares about, and if she were being a hundred percent honest with herself," Kurt glanced over at her before looking back at his brother, "she would admit that she doesn't care about anything that you care about. She wants to care about it because she knows it's important to you, but deep down she doesn't care about sports or video games or classic rock music. She's constantly upset by things you do and things you neglect to do, and you're constantly walking on eggshells around her to avoid upsetting her. At first, I just thought that was how relationships were, but Blaine and I aren't like that, so I thought was just how _straight_ relationships are but our parents aren't like that, Mike and Tina aren't like that."

"Relationships take work," Finn said as much to Kurt as to Rachel.

"But they shouldn't be a chore," Rachel replied, "and that's what our relationship has become to me, something I feel obligated to maintain. You would almost certainly have to feel the same. I am perfectly aware of just how high maintenance I am, and right or wrong, that's not likely to change any time soon, at least not for the better."

"I don't…" Finn protest died on his tongue. He really couldn't even pretend to not feel the same way.

"I care about you, Finn," Rachel said with all sincerity, "I suspect that I always will, but I'm not in love with you anymore. I think for a while now we've been in love with the ideas of one another rather than the reality of each other."

"I have no idea what that means," Finn said looking completely lost.

"Don't feel bad," Rachel reassured him, "I'm only recently coming to understand what it means, myself, but simply put it means that for me I've been seeing you just as the popular quarterback with the musical voice that will swoop in and rescue me from my severe unpopularity, my leading man in the Broadway musical fantasy that I keep playing out in my mind, and you see me as the doting girlfriend who values you above all and would do anything to make you happy but that's not all that we are and for my part I cannot be that person anymore."

"What are you talking about? Why not?"

"I told you I have life altering news as well, Finn, and I'm going to have to say it sooner or later so it might as well be now," she said. Quinn who was standing behind her placed a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder. The diva placed her hand over Quinn's as she took a calming breath. "I'm pregnant."

"WHAT? That's not possible! We used condoms."

"They were the wrong size," Rachel said, "the first few times."

"What? They have sizes?" Finn asked incredulously, "They were just the ones that Mike gave me."

"Well, lucky Tina, I suppose, but not so lucky for us. You seriously didn't notice that the condoms I bought for us were smaller than the ones we used initially? Oh the wonders of 'abstinence only' sex education policies." Rachel asked shaking her head.

"I don't know," Finn growled in frustration, "I guess not. But, whatever, are you keeping the baby?"

"I'm not going to get an abortion if that's what you are asking," Rachel said forcefully, "However if you were inquiring about whether or not I plan on raising the baby or putting it up for adoption, I haven't decided on that issue as yet. I thought it merited a discussion with you for a start, although not necessarily now."

"Rach, if you're… if we're having a baby, we really need to stay together for the baby."

"NO, Finn," Rachel countered defiantly, "we most certainly do not need to do that. Staying together for the baby doesn't make anyone happy, not the parents or the child. We needn't let one mistake on our parts lead us into making another. I am unhappy in our relationship, so staying in it will cause me nothing but stress, of which I need less in my life, not more."

"But Rachel…"

"Finn, I hate to tell you this in this particular manner but will it encourage you desist this pointless insistence if I regretfully inform you that I have once again been unfaithful to you?"

"WHAT? Did you… you guys…" Finn couldn't bring himself to say it for fear of what he might do. He looked at Quinn as he asked, "Do you know for sure that they baby is mine?"

Rachel saw where the boy's eyes were fixed. "Finn, I understand why you would ask that given everything that happened last time you were told such news, and I can say with one hundred percent certainty that the baby is yours."

"Because you and him didn't go all the way?"

"No, we did."

"Were you already pregnant?"

"No."

"THEN HOW DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE, RACHEL?" The question virtually exploded out of his mouth. The forcefulness of it startled both girls. "Is it because it was Puck? Again? Because he had that surgery that means he can't get girls pregnant anymore."

"It wasn't Noah," Rachel said softly but solidly.

"Well, he's the only guy we know that couldn't get you pregnant!"

"Yes, Finn," Rachel responded still speaking calmly, "Noah is the only _guy_ we know who couldn't get me pregnant…"

"THEN HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW!" Finn clearly didn't catch the inflection in her voice but judging by the sudden change in expression on his face, Kurt hadn't missed anything. When no answer was forthcoming, "TELL ME!"

"Finn calm down," Kurt said.

"I WANT FUCKING ANSWERS!"

"Well, yelling isn't going to help that," the boy said to his fuming brother, "Rachel's clearly terrified to say anything for fear of angering you any further. Now take a deep breath and calm down." While he was talking to Finn, Kurt was communicating with Rachel non-verbally throwing a glance between her and Quinn to which Rachel gave a very slight nod.

"I want answers," Finn repeated this time to Kurt and more calmly, "I don't want to go through this again. I won't be made a fool of again."

"I understand that. You are well within your rights to want to be certain," Kurt stated firmly, "There's just no reason to get so worked up about it. Raising your voice is rarely helpful." Finn looked back to Rachel and everyone could still see the fire in his eyes. "Finn, please look at me. I really don't need to have to explain to our parents how you got in trouble at school for doing something to your pregnant ex-girlfriend."

Finn flinched at the use of the word "ex" then looked back at Kurt to say, "I just don't get how she can be sure who the father is if there's this other guy out there."

Kurt cast an eye at Rachel and flourished his hand in Finn's direction asking permission to tell Finn what he was pretty certain was the truth of the matter. Rachel with pleading eyes mouthed the word "please" to him. "Finn, the other guy is Quinn. That's why she's here, that's why Rachel's sure the baby is yours."

"No," the taller boy responded still looking at his brother. He turned to face the girls who were now standing together, "You're not gay."

Rachel started to answer but words weren't coming out. She wanted to explain the complexities of her sexuality to him, but she couldn't quite find the words. Quinn could see the turmoil in her girl's face, so she did what her instincts told her to do: protect Rachel. She took a step forward bringing herself between Finn and Rachel, and spoke for the first time since Finn had arrived. "I won't speak for Rachel, but I _am_ gay. I've always been gay. It took me a long time to accept it, even longer to be okay with it, and in the meantime, I used you and I hurt you, Finn and for that, I'm sorry." And like that, Finn's jaw hit the floor not just at the shock of Quinn coming out to him, but the fact that she apologized. He'd never heard her apologize to anyone for anything.

"And for my part," Rachel finally spoke up, "I may or may not be gay, but I did have sexual intercourse with Quinn and I definitely have romantic feelings for her. Whether that makes me gay or bi-sexual or whatever label you wish to apply to it, I don't know but I have to see where this goes."

Finn's eyes shot to the tiny diva at the sound of these last words, "She'll just hurt you, Rach. Quinn's a cheater."

"As am I," Rachel quickly countered as she now stepped in front of Quinn, "or had you forgotten what I just confessed to you only minutes ago? Your knowledge of her cheating ways didn't stop you from getting back together with her last year, in fact as I recall you facilitated her cheating on Sam. However, she's only cheated because she was getting too deep into a relationship that she wasn't fully committed to and wanted an out before she wound up hurting you even worse." Quinn stared hard at the back of Rachel's head at the frighteningly insightful comment, curious as to how Rachel knew that about her when even Quinn couldn't have articulated the feeling quite so well until right then. "I think perhaps I did the same thing last year with the incident with Noah, and I think a part of me knew what I was doing when I did it. I'm sorry for that, Finn. I know that had to have hurt you," suddenly Rachel's eyes went wide and she spun on her heel to face Quinn. "I did the same thing to you carrying on with Finn after our time together. Quinn, I'm so sorry."

"You've already apologized. You don't have to do it again," Quinn said, but then she smiled at Rachel, "Although I am glad we're recognizing patterns of behavior. Maybe that means we won't repeat them with each other."

"So are you still going to New York when you graduate, even if you keep the baby?" Finn asked.

Rachel turned her attention back to him and said, "Yes, Finn, I'm aware of the difficulties that will come with being a mother and a performing arts college student but I'll find a way to make it work."

"I could… I could go to court and make them make you stay," Finn said bitterly.

"Would you do that, Finn, to me? You say you love me, but would you make me choose between my baby and my dream?"

"What other choice do I have, Rachel? You just said you were going to leave. If you go then I'm just screwed out of getting to be a part of my kid's life."

"No!" Rachel and Quinn said in unison.

"Finn, I would never try to keep you from your child," Rachel said, "We can arrange some sort of schedule for you to see the baby. Booked far enough in advance, plane tickets aren't that expensive. And train rides are getting shorter all the time."

"Or you could come with us," Quinn chimed in.

"What?" an incredulous Finn asked.

"An excellent idea, Quinn," Rachel said as she suddenly went into planning mode, "New York needs car mechanics as well, if that is your chosen lot in life."

"Yeah, but New York really isn't…"

"You wouldn't even necessarily need to live in the city," Rachel cut him off.

"That's true," Kurt said, "you could commute or just live and work in another town that's more your style. There are plenty of rural communities in Upstate New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey that are all just a train ride away from where we'll be."

"But my family won't be there," Finn said.

"Kurt's going to be there," Quinn pointed out, "Your baby will be there. Rachel and I will be there."

"And I'm certain your mother and step-father would be happy to come visit as often as their schedules will allow," Rachel said.

"But my dad died in Lima," Finn said.

"No, Finn," Quinn countered, "your dad died in Kuwait. Lima's just where he was born and grew up."

Rachel said, "Finn, wherever he is, I'm sure your father is honored that you want to keep his memory alive, but while I obviously didn't know your father since he was killed while we were all just infants, I am certain that if he were anywhere near the father than you believe him to be, then he wouldn't want you to limit yourself and what you can accomplish because of him." As soon as Rachel started speaking, Finn started studying the floor in front of him. When he didn't look back up, Rachel placed a hand oh Finn's shoulder and said, "You know, Finn, Christopher would be a very good name for a boy."

"We could name him after my dad?" Finn asked suddenly very excited.

Rachel nodded but Quinn spoke up, "Assuming we don't hear any more talk about compelling Rachel to stay in Ohio. I think we all know that she is destined for better things."

"Totally," Finn said just as the first bell rang.

"We all need to get to class," Rachel said, "but there's just one more thing. Quinn and I are going to tell the Glee Club about us this afternoon, but we're not telling the rest of the student body right now and probably not soon. I hope that we can trust your discretion on this, Finn."

"Yeah, no problem," he said sincerely, "I mean, I may be dumb but even I know that telling the whole school that my two ex-girlfriends are gay for each other isn't gonna help my reputation any."

**X X X X X**

A brief conversation with Mr. Schuester in their fourth period Spanish class had revealed that Quinn was of course welcome back in Glee any time, especially now that she had appeared to work out whatever issues were bothering her and had made peace with Rachel at long last. So that afternoon Quinn made her re-appearance in the choir room for the first time that year. Santana was also there so apparently she had also mended fences with the club in the intervening week. Mr. Schuester stood at the front of the class and said, "Quinn, we're glad you're back. I understand you have something for us?"

"I do," the blonde said standing from her seat next to Rachel in the front row. She handed a set of sheet music to Brad at the piano and then walked to the other side of the room to pick up Puck's acoustic guitar and hoisted it up putting the strap over her shoulder.

"Quinn, you play the guitar?" asked Rachel.

Quinn teetered her hand back and forth, "A little bit. Sam was teaching me while we babysat his brother and sister last year, but they moved before I really felt confident in my abilities. I know this song well enough though." The smile stretched across Rachel's face was evident to all and puzzling to most. Quinn looked back to Brad and counted them down and began playing

You're better then the best

I'm lucky just to linger in your light

Cooler than the flip side

Of my pillow, that's right

Rachel hadn't recognized the song right away, which surprised her since she had a knack for remembering virtually every song she had ever heard. When Quinn started to sing it sounded familiar, but she still had some trouble placing the lyrics, but she did eventually when she finally realized that Quinn had rearranged the song slightly.

Completely unaware

Nothing can compare to where

You send me, lets me know that it's okay

Yeah, it's okay

And the moments where my good times start to fade

Though Quinn had started out singing in the center of the choir room floor, as she approached the chorus she strode purposefully towards where Rachel was seated.

You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed

Sing like bird, dizzy in my head

Spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night

Quinn sang with an intensity that most of the club had ever seen before… at least not in her performances. This was an energy that was mostly reserved for her cruelty. Not there was the slightest bit of malice or anger in her voice. Today she was all happiness and joy.

You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Oh, you make me smile

On cue with the lyrics, Quinn danced like a fool, held a hand to her chest when she forgot how to breathe, and then she did something most of the club hadn't seen in a long time. Quinn Fabray smiled brightly. Then realization began to set in at whom she was smiling.

Even when you're gone,

Somehow you come along just like

A flower pokin' through the sidewalk crack

And just like that

You steal away the rain, and just like that

You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed

Sing like bird, dizzy in my head

Spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night

As with the first chorus, Quinn was standing directly in front of Rachel looking straight at her, and once again she acted out parts of it, lilting her head side to side to indicate dizziness and spinning in a circle like a record.

You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Oh, you make me smile

That big genuine smile was back again. Quinn pushed the guitar around behind her back, leaving the piano the only music to accompany her through the nest part. Quinn took a knee in front of Rachel and sang.

Don't know how I lived without you

'Cause every time that I get around you

I see the best of me inside your eyes

You make me smile

Quinn held out a hand for Rachel's and the brunette placed her left hand in Quinn's right.

You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Quinn stood up and yanked Rachel out of her seat, silently inviting Rachel to share the stage with her. Quinn pulled her guitar back to her and resumed playing. This time both girls acted out the chorus.

You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed

Sing like bird, dizzy in my head

Spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Rachel joined in for the last part of the song, singing the back up to Quinn's lead.

Oh, you make me smile

(Oh, you make me smile)

Oh, you make me smile

(Oh, you make me smile)

Oh, you make me smile

After the song was over, just in case there was anyone who hadn't gotten the message of the song, Quinn quickly pushed the guitar around her back again as Rachel closed her eyes as she leaned in to kiss Quinn. The blonde momentarily felt bad rubbing it in Finn's face quite so hard, so soon but there was less than zero chance she was going to deny Rachel this kiss. Two pair of soft lips collided and though it was completely chaste, it was not remotely dispassionate. Finn looked away uncomfortable. Sitting next to him Puck said, "Hot!" On Finn's other side, Artie's eyes bulged in surprise. Behind them, Kurt was flanked by his boyfriend and his best friend who both looked to him with questioning looks. He shrugged a silent apology for keeping secrets. Mike and Tina smiled at each other and Asian kissed. Brittany was likewise surprised but seemingly happily surprised.

"I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Santana roared as she rose up from her seat. The newly official couple in the center of the room broke off their kiss as Rachel moaned quietly into Quinn's mouth at the sudden shouted profanity. "Quinn Fabray, you dirty damn liar, I knew Berry played for our team!"

"Our team?" Quinn quickly echoed back to her. Most of the club had been too distracted by Rachel and Quinn to notice Santana's slip of the tongue but it wasn't lost on Quinn.

Nor was it lost on Brittany who was up out of her seat wrapping Santana up in her arms in an instant, "San, you finally said it! I'm so proud of you!"

"I, umm… the…" the Latina stammered, finally processing what she'd just said.

"Please don't try to take it back," Brittany implored. "I love you so much, Santana, and I miss your sweet lady kisses. I want us to be together."

Santana shut her eyes and leaned her forehead against Brittany's. She took a deep breath of the cotton candy and popcorn scent of Brittany that always had a calming effect on her. Then she spoke, still with her eyes closed, but loud enough to be heard by all in the room, "I love you, too, Britts." The tall blonde squealed in excitement and smashed their lips together.

Back on the floor Quinn placed another delicate kiss on Rachel's cheekbone, glad that her friends were finally making an honest go of being happy together. A bewildered Mr. Schuester just looked on not quite sure want to think. The curly haired vest enthusiast was aware that show choir had a tendency to attract alternate lifestyle individuals and Will had always been in favor of people being whoever they wanted to be, but a full one-third of his Glee Club had just come out in short order. He was quite dumbstruck.

Less silent was Finn who after being blindsided with this said, "Oh God, I'm gonna get such a reputation for this."

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Puck asked while still staring.

"That's every girl I've ever been on a date with confessing to love each other," Finn replied, "my two long term girlfriends making out with each other and the girl who took my virginity making out with my first kiss. I can hear it now 'If you go out with Finn, you'll wind up gay.' 'There goes Gay Maker Finn.'"

Artie snorted and said, "More like LesbiFinn."

"Dude!" Finn said.

"Sorry, dude. It was just right there," Artie apologized, "it just sort of came out… kind of like all of them!"

"DUDE!"

"I'm sorry!"

Rachel spoke again, "Since it would appear to be a day for gigantic announcements in Glee Club, I have one more that needs to be made and it would seem that there is no time like the present…"

**A/N: So I lifted the name LesbiFinn from another story because it was just too funny not to repeat and I would cite the author if I could remember which story it was and thus what the author's screen name is. If you are the person who coined the name and would like credit for it or even if you are familiar with the story let me know and I will be happy to cite you here.**

**For anyone who doesn't know, Quinn's song is the namesake of this chapter, "Smile" by Uncle Kracker.**


	8. The Check Up

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay in publishing loyal readers. I opted to take a two week break from writing because I was starting to feel burnt out. Then I had some trouble getting back into the groove of it for another week. Then I updated my other story first as I had been neglecting it to write this one before my break.**

**I'm not hugely fond of this chapter; it feels a little boring to me, filler-ish. It was suppose to have the Faberry first date as well, but then it would have been very long. Hope you guys like it better than I do.**

**Chapter 8**

**The Check Up**

"Please tell me this is some kind of a joke," Santana said. She and Brittany had pulled the diva aside after the third huge announcement in Glee and the subsequent fallout. Brittany had her hand on Rachel's stomach trying to feel the baby kick. Explaining to her that the baby had yet to grow legs hadn't deterred her in the slightest.

A shocked expression stretched across Rachel's as she huffed, "Why on Earth would I joke about such a thing, Santana? I mean, yes, okay, admittedly I have a certain love of the dramatic, but to lie about being pregnant? And to what end? It's not like I'm trying to hang onto a dying relationship. In fact, use this a time to end a bad relation…"

"Alright, I get it. Shut up," Santana cut her off mid-ramble.

"Don't be mean, San," Brittany said as she stepped back to her girlfriend and curled into Santana's side tucking her face into the crook of the Latina's neck.

Santana's attitude shifted on a dime as she turned her attention to the beloved blonde. "Britt, baby, what's the matter?"

"I'm scared, San," Brittany mumbled into Santana's neck.

"You don't have to be scared, baby girl. You know I've got you."

"No, I totally know that. I'm not scared for me. I'm scared for Rachel."

"While I certainly appreciate your concern, Brittany, and having a baby can certainly be a frightening prospect, I am beyond certain that between Quinn and Finn and my fathers, I have the support that I'm going to need to get through this. You needn't be afraid on my account."

"Thanks, Rach," Brittany said, "and I'll try not to be but it's just that you're so tiny and Finn's totally a half-giant like Hagrid. That means your baby is gonna be a quarter giant. It's totally gonna hurt on the way out." Rachel's eyes bulged at the thought. While she didn't believe the part about giant lineage, the size disparity between Finn and herself was undeniable. She made a mental note to start a cost/risk analysis of a cesarean section.

Across the room, Quinn had taken Finn aside. The tall boy was still rubbing the tender spot on the back of his head where moments earlier Mercedes had unleashed a torrent of slaps after the announcement was made; only stopping when Puck and Blaine had physically restrained her. "How's your head?" She asked.

"It hurts," he winced at his own touch, "but it'll be okay, I think. Guess I deserved it."

Quinn fought like hell the urge to agree with him, instead saying, "I just wanted to thank you for keeping your cool through all of that. I know you couldn't possibly be okay with all of this yet. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be if the roles were reversed."

"It's not my favorite thing," he said tersely.

"I wish I could tell you that we would try not to rub it in your face but we kind of already have and you know Rachel. She's not exactly one to keep her feelings to herself. For my part, I'll try to keep PDA to a minimum, if I can."

"Um, thanks?"

"I just... I want you to understand I'm not you enemy, Finn. I have no interest in being your enemy and I hope you don't see me as such," Quinn said, "If Rachel opts to keep the baby that's going to permanently intertwine our lives, because I'm not giving Rachel up without a fight. I've wanted her for too long to give her up, and for the sake of the baby we need to be a team instead of warring parties."

"Sounds good to me," Finn said, "Does Rachel have a baby doctor's appointment soon?"

"After school today," Quinn said.

"Like right after school?" The boy asked.

"4:00, yeah."

"Crap! I've got football practice. I'll... I'll get out of it," he said.

Quinn chuckled, "Finn, you can't get out of football practice, you're the starting quarterback and the team's captain."

The tall boy sighed and his shoulders sagged when the realization set in. "I guess you're right," he said, "I just want to be there for her better than I was with you. You know, when I thought your baby was mine, I didn't really help much. I don't want to be that guy again?"

Quinn couldn't help but be stung by his willingness to be there for Rachel when he wasn't for her. She knew she was being ridiculous since she had been lying to him and deceiving him and she never actually wanted him in the first place… and yet it still stung. Saving her from having to trip over her sentiment came a voice, "That is very admirable Finn," Rachel interjected, having removed herself the Cheerios before they freaked her out any more they already had, "you're growing as a person, and in the future we will make sure to make my doctor's appointments at a time that is convenient for all of us so that anyone wants to be there can."

"I'll be there with her this time," Quinn said.

"And we will make every effort to include you from here on," Rachel added. Finn still looked like he was trying to work out some sort of scheme that would let him be there.

"If it makes you feel any better, Finn. The odds of being able to see anything at this point are slim. The baby will just be a tiny little blurry dot on a screen," Quinn added. "And we'll be sure to get you a picture of the blurry dot."

"Yes," Rachel confirmed, "and a DVD of the sonogram if we do see the heartbeat."

"Thanks, Rach," he said with his typical big, dopey smile.

"Finn, have you given any thought to when and how you are going to tell your parents about this?" asked Rachel.

"Um, yeah, y'know a little, I didn't really come up with anything, though," he said, "I've… y'know, I've never been very good with bad news, and after last time," he glanced at Quinn, "my mom's gonna be real disappointed in me."

"In that case," Rachel said," might I suggest that we wait to tell your parents until we have a chance to sit down and determine whether or not we intend to keep the baby once it's born and what our game plan is with regards to raising it. Not to keep them in the dark, but rather just because they're undoubtedly going to have questions and I think it would reassure them if we had answers for them. Perhaps we could make time to discuss this soon, in the next day or two perhaps?"

"I'm guessing this will take longer than a lunch period to talk about," Finn said.

"I should think."

"You've got the doctor tonight. We've got a family thing tomorrow night," Finn said searching his mental schedule, "How about Thursday?"

"I believe I am available Thursday," Rachel replied, "If we're being a team, would you mind if Quinn was in attendance, as well?"

"Um, I guess not," he replied.

"Good," Rachel said, "Thursday after Glee."

"Rach, not to interrupt" Quinn said, holding up her watch, "but we need to go."

"Right, of course," she said, "Good luck at practice, Finn."

**X X X X X**

"You're nervous," Quinn said. The girls were in a patient room at Dr. Michael Landry's office waiting on the doctor. Rachel had already had blood drawn and was sitting on the exam table in the uncomfortable gown and staring at the stirrups she's soon be putting her feet into.

"Of course, I'm nervous, Quinn. I'm sitting in a doctor's office in only paper gown which doesn't exactly close all the way waiting on a man that I don't know who knows my father very well to come and give me a pelvic exam, and while I understand that regular gynecological check-ups are an important part of maintaining one's overall health, it's not something I've ever been entirely comfortable with. I've had three different OB-GYNs in the last four years because once someone has seen my… my…"

"Vagina?"

"Yes," Rachel said, "I have trouble looking them in the eyes after that. In point of fact, the only person that I've ever been comfortable with in that general area is you and you are remotely qualified to by my OB-GYN nor to oversee the delivery, and, oh yes, on the list of things that are making me nervous, I'm going to have a baby sometime in the next eight months…"

"Rachel," Quinn said softly.

"…in high school, and I don't yet know if I'm keeping it or putting it up for adoption and I don't know if I'm going to have time to find him or her a suitable home."

"Rachel," Quinn repeated.

"I don't have a plan Quinn! I always have a plan! What am…"

Rachel was cut off by Quinn's lips crashing against her own. The kiss wasn't deep or even very forceful but it did serve to calm Rachel down, or rather to focus her excitement in one direction rather than the scattershot, near hyperventilating excitement of her rant. Quinn broke off the kiss and cupped both of Rachel's cheeks. "You can't freak out like that, Rachel. You have to stay calm. Too much stress is bad for you and bad for the baby, okay?" Rachel nodded her head in Quinn's hands. "Let's just focus on what's immediately in front of us, the exam. I know it's uncomfortable but we have to know that you and the baby are okay, right?"

"Right," Rachel replied trying to remain calm.

"After we clear this hurdle, we can work on planning for all eventualities. We can even work on it tonight…"

"Oh, no, tonight is date night," Rachel quickly countered, "You already promised."

"I didn't forget, nor would I attempt to put it off," Quinn reassured her, "I mean, I've only been wanting to do this for three years, after all. I'm pretty sure that I am far more excited about tonight than you are. Date night is happening. The term 'Hell of high water' comes to mind. I just don't have every single moment of the entire night's conversation planned out and thought we might work in a little bit of discussion about the baby."

"Nope," Rachel said quickly, "Just for tonight I want to forget about being 'Rachel Berry, Pregnant Teenager' and just be 'Rachel Berry, Girl on a First Date.' Tomorrow we can go back to having a million things to work out in the next eight months. Tonight I just want to be wooed by a beautiful woman who adores me. Is that okay?"

Quinn kissed Rachel gently again. "More than okay, sweetie."

"Good," Rachel said, "If you hadn't agreed, I would have had to insist anyway." Quinn smiled at her. "So you've been planning this date for three years? I must say I'm intrigued"

"Okay, just so you don't set your expectations too high, I haven't been planning _this_ specific date for three years. In fact, I haven't planned any one date for three years. Only around Valentine's Day did I really start to accept the fact that I was gay, so before then most of my daydreams involved us running away from home together or alternate realities where I wasn't born to my family and I could be open about who I was or just meeting up again in college next year. Since then I've tried to plot out a few different scenarios. The one for tonight is the best one I can come up with that I can assemble on short notice. I have some more grand plans but they need more advanced notice and prep work, so they will have to be executed at a later date."

A knock on the door preceded the entrance of Dr. Michael Landry, a tall man probably in his early 50's with dirty blonde hair, kind blue eyes, and big sincere smile. "Rachel? I'm Dr. Landry. I'm a friend of your daddy. It's nice to meet you. The pictures I've seen don't do you justice… all nine thousand of them."

"Thank you, Dr. Landry. It's nice to meet you as well," Rachel responded. "This is my girlfriend, Quinn Fabray."

"Hi," Quinn said.

"Good to meet you, Quinn," he said, "Now Rachel, I've got yours and your father's medical histories, but what about your birth mother? Do you know who she is? It would be helpful to me if I knew as much about her as possible."

"Her name is Shelby Corcoran," Rachel started, "I don't know much about her medical history except that she had something that caused her to not be able to have any more children. My dads have her family medical history from the time I was conceived. I'll have them fax that over and I suppose I need to talk to her about the rest."

Quinn spoke up, "She had a severe case of endometriosis in 1999 resulting in surgery to remove her uterus and ovaries. Since then she's had no major health issues." Dr. Landry was quickly taking notes. "She had an uncle who had Type 1 diabetes, now deceased and her grandmother had relapsing remitting MS, also deceased. Beyond that, there aren't any serious hereditary health problems in the family." Both Rachel and Dr. Landry looked at her oddly. "What? You think I would let her adopt my baby without knowing for certain whether or not there was a sizable chance of her suddenly falling severely ill or dropping dead?"

"Okay," Dr. Landry said, "and at some point I'll need to have a look at the baby's father's medical history, as well."

"Yes, of course," Rachel said, "I should have thought of that already."

"You've got a lot on your mind," he reassured her.

"That's true," Rachel sighed, "I'm just so use to having a plan for anything and suddenly I'm completely unprepared for seemingly everything. Its… it's more than a little frustrating."

"I get that," he said with a smile and for some reason this made Rachel relax just a little, "Okay, I've got some questions we need to go over. When was your…"

**X X X X X**

Everything checked out on Rachel's pelvic exam. She was, in Dr. Landry's estimation, in perfect health. As predicted the ultrasound turned a small blurry dot which Dr. Landry deemed viable. He printed off pictures for the girls to show around. "Rachel, I'm going to estimate that you're around four weeks along. I'll know with more certainty when the blood work comes back. Someone from the office will give you a call when it does, should be Friday or so. We will want to have you come back in about three weeks so that we can look at the heartbeat, okay?"

"Okay," she replied sheepishly.

"Rachel, do me a favor and try to relax, okay?" the doctor asked, "You've just had the textbook definition of a routine first prenatal check-up. Everything is 100% fine for both you and your baby."

"Thank you, Dr. Landry," Rachel said, as she smiled, "I don't know what it is, but you're the first gynecologist that I felt like I could actually talk to and now have no problem looking in the eye afterwards."

"That's a lot more common than you might think," he replied, "You just have to find someone who has that X factor, that thing that makes you relax. I'm glad I can be that person for you."

"As am I," Rachel replied, "and thank you for not asking too many questions about paternity."

He just shrugged and said, "Aside from his medical history, it's not my concern." Rachel said nothing but smiled at him. Dr. Landry turned his attention to Quinn and said, "I'd tell you that you are doing a great job supporting her but I guess since you've already been through this, you already know that."

"I was hoping I was, but it's good to know for sure."

"We'll see you girls in a couple weeks. In the meantime, here's my number," he handed both girls his business card, "if you have any questions or if the baby's father or any of your families need to know anything or have any questions, call me. I may not always answer but I will call you back if you leave me a message."

"Thank you, doctor," Quinn said.

"Yes," Rachel echoed, "thank you, Dr. Landry."


	9. Date Night Part One

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: So here we have Rachel and Quinn's first date. Well really this is mostly lead-up to the date wherein I once again earn this story's M rating, so fair warning if you are reading this somewhere that frowns upon such thing either wait or be stealthy about it. Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter much more than the previous. I know I enjoyed writing it better.**

**Chapter 9**

**Date Night**

After the doctor's, Quinn dropped Rachel off at home so that they could both get ready for their date. The brunette was a little sad that neither of her fathers had made it home yet. She was hoping to show off her sonogram picture to someone. On the plus side, it meant more time to figure out what to wear on her date. Quinn told her it was going to be outdoors since it was going to be a nice evening, one of the last few they were likely to have before the onset of cold weather.

Rachel knew from the start that she was definitely going to wear one of her skirts, firstly because she knew Quinn greatly appreciated her legs, but also because, much like the weather, she wasn't going to be able to enjoy them much longer as the pregnancy progressed. Though extremely reticent to talk about it, Rachel was a girl like any other and she occasionally had body image issues. That's why she wore the animal sweaters and the argyle socks. If people focused on her clothes, then they wouldn't pay attention to what was beneath them. Which is not to say that she always hated the way her body looked, but she knew how cruel kids could be and one horrible comment on a bad day could make those issues permanent. So Rachel, always a planner, came up with a solution, and people could say whatever they wanted about her clothes because her clothes weren't her. When the occasion called for it, Rachel did actually know how to dress herself. She was going to be a star after all, and stars had to be fashionable.

Previous to now, Rachel had always maintained a continuity of fashion when on dates with people she knew from school to avoid questions, and if she were being honest she also did it to test her suitor's commitment to being with her, to see if they didn't mind being seen in public with her dressed that way and once again to deflect from her body to keep them from thinking too much about their sexual prospects for the evening. Another thing Rachel would likely never admit was a fear of being blown off after having sex with someone. It harkened back to the abandonment issues her mother had left her with. Tonight was different, though. Tonight she was going to be with Quinn who had seen the absolute best and worst in her for years now and loved her, the good and the bad, Quinn who she'd already been intimate still wanted to be around her afterwards, Quinn who despite being breathtakingly beautiful herself made Rachel feel beautiful and desirable and sexy and most of all made her feel okay about feeling those things.

Rachel dug into the back of her closet and retrieved something that she'd had for some time but never worn. She held it up to herself in the mirror and envisioned the reaction that Quinn would have to seeing her in it. She quickly decided that was the top for the evening, but also knew that her fathers would have an aneurysm if they knew that was what she was wearing so she prepared an alternate in case she needed to cover either her exit or her return later. While Rachel longed to wear one of her pencil skirts to showcase her posterior as well as her legs, she knew it to be impractical since an outdoor date came with a high likelihood of sitting on the ground which would be uncomfortable in something so form fitting. Since that was out, Rachel decided that if she couldn't properly display her backside, she'd just have to show off as much of her legs as her modesty would allow.

Half an hour after Rachel had arrived home she had her evening's attire picked out, but still no one was home. She checked her clock. It was only 5:15. It wasn't unusual for them to not be home yet, she wasn't sure why she suddenly felt the need for someone to be there. She'd spent huge amounts of time alone in this very room before, listening to or singing music, watching movies, TV, doing her homework, reading, as recently as two days ago. Rachel was definitely not unaccustomed to being alone, so why did she suddenly feel so lonely?

Rachel thought to put her time to good use and start in on the copy of _What to Expect When You're Expecting_ she'd found in her bedroom when she'd gotten home, no doubt put there by one or both of her fathers, but after only a couple of minutes she realized she wasn't focusing at all, having read the same paragraph three times and still not taken any of it in. She was pre-occupied. She grabbed her phone and quickly dialed a number that she'd had for two years but never used.

"Why the fuck are you calling me, Berry?" snapped Santana.

"Language, Santana," Rachel said, willing her body to not react as it usually did to profanity, "I need your help, please."

"Fuck you, bitch!" Santana spat back not helping Rachel's situation, "Don't reprimand me and ask for my help in the same damn sentence."

"You're right, that was terribly rude of me. I apologize. Please feel free, encouraged even, to speak in whatever manner you so choose, but I really need your help."

"Quinn's only had one horrible time with Puck, anything you do will feel like fucking heaven to her so for tonight stick to basics," Santana said, "just do what you usually do to yourself to her. Q's a little more repressed than you so you may have to guide her through what to do. Figure that shit out first and then you guys can work up to going down on each other and strap-ons, and shit later..."

It took Rachel a moment to figure out what Santana was talking about and when she did she was shocked into silence. She and Santana had rarely had so much as a kind word for one another and here the Latina was running through Lesbian Sex 101 with her without even so much a prompt. When Santana mentioned the word "strap-on" Rachel was finally shocked out of her silence. "Santana!" she interrupted, silently reminding herself that she was asking the other girl for help. "Thank you for your willingness to go there, but I'm not currently in the need of a sexual tutorial."

"Well, what then?"

"I had questions about the other part of the date."

"What other part? What the fuck are you talking about? Can you just ask whatever the hell it is you want to ask?"

Rachel sighed and said, "The date part of the date, the part where we are out in public with our clothes on in a restaurant or the movie theater or wherever. We are both girls, neither of us is what one would describe as 'butch' so who pays? Who gets whose chair? Who leads when we dance? Who gives who a kiss goodnight?"

Now it was Santana's turn to sigh, "Fuck! I don't know Rachel. Why the fuck are you asking me this shit?"

"If you wish to hand the phone to Brittany, I could ask the only other girl I know in a lesbian relationship."

Santana scoffed, "Bitch, if Brittany was awake you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now." The Latina very audibly huffed out a deep breath and said, "She asked you out?"

"Yes," replied Rachel.

"Then, for tonight, she pays," Santana answered, "The rest of that stuff is shit you guys have to work the fuck out between the two of you."

"Thank you, Santana," Rachel said, "I app…"

Rachel was cut off by the sudden, sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line followed by Santana rather loudly saying, "Oh Shit!"

"Santana, are you alright? Should I call 911?"

"NO! I'm fucking-fucking great right now I am," she replied.

"What happened?" asked Rachel, concerned at Santana's incoherence.

"Brittany just shoved her fingers into my pussy all the way to the knuckle," Santana said, her voice an octave higher than normal. It returned to normal when she said, "You can lis… listen while she makes me come, if you want. Britt says it'll be hot."

A very large part of Rachel did want to listen in, the part that had listened to Santana curse for the better part of ten minutes, the part that hadn't had a decent orgasm in nearly two months. Her baby hormone-soaked libido really, _really_ wanted to listen in, but that would have been very difficult to explain to Quinn, so it was fortunate that her rational mind still had command of her motor functions and hung up the phone.

Rachel knew she couldn't go all night being this worked up. She was going to have to do something about it. She shut and locked her bedroom door thankful for the soundproofing her fathers had put in after their neighbors complained about Rachel's singing. Rachel quickly retired to her bed and went about relieving herself. In all the years she'd been taking care her own needs, Rachel had never been able to just dive straight in and achieve orgasm. For her sex wasn't just an application of friction to on specific spot on the body it was a whole experience. Rachel in effect had to seduce herself in order to get off. She first massaged her breasts through her thick sweater, thankful that she wasn't wearing a padded bra. If she had, she likely would feel next to nothing from this. She ran one hand one hand lightly over the back of her neck trying to imagine it was Quinn doing it instead.

After a couple of minutes, things weren't going as well as she might have hoped. She looked quickly around the room for anything of Quinn's or anything the blonde may have used. The only thing she found was the pillow next to her that Quinn had napped on last night and still smelled of her shampoo and/or her hair dye. She figured that would have to do until she remembered the DVD of last year's Sectionals performance.

Rachel bounced up off the bed, quickly locating and inserting the DVD into the player, flipped on the TV, yanked her sweater over her head and flung it to the hamper in the corner before climbing back into place. Once there, she opted, in the interest of not having any more interruptions, to shed all of her clothes. Then she felt too exposed so she pulled back the comforter and blanket on her bed and crawled in. Finally finding peace enough to relax and give herself some relief, she hit the play button on her remote and started back in on her ritual, gliding her hands over her painfully erect nipples ignoring Sam's voice on the TV as best she could. She pinched one nipple between thumb and forefinger as the other hand retreated to her neck. She released her nipple and grabbed the spare pillow to inhale deeply just as Quinn began to sing about having the time of her life.

The combination of olfactory and auditory sensations was having desired effect and she felt herself getting very wet. The hand on the pillow retreated back to her nipples; the one on her neck she walked down her torso imagining every touch was one of Quinn's ultra-light kisses. The sound of Quinn's voice on screen helped her summon memories of things she had said to her when last they had been intimate. "God, Rachel, do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" Rachel slid two fingers through her slick folds and moaned at Imaginary Quinn's touch. "I've wanted you for so long, Rachel." She brought her wet finger tips up and started massage her aching clit briefly wondering if it was normal to masturbate to the image and scent and sound of the woman you were about to go on a date with. The knotting of pleasure in her lower abdomen drove that and all other thoughts from her mind and Rachel's other hand instinctively dove down and Rachel plunged for one finger into herself. A second soon followed and Rachel began thrashing on her bed as more memories played in her mind. "Fuck, you taste so good. Your sweet virgin pussy feels so good, Rachel. You're so goddamn wet I think I'm going to come just feeling you."

Rachel was distracted from her memories when she suddenly noticed the music getting much louder. She also noticed that it was no longer Quinn or even Sam that was singing but Santana. Although it wasn't Santana's voice that was wrecking her mood, it was sultry and sexy after all, but rather it was Rachel feeling guilty about suddenly thinking about Santana and by extension what Santana was doing currently with Brittany, rather than Quinn. Now she was distracted even further and started searching for the remote that she had undoubtedly leaned on.

A knock on the door followed by her Daddy's voiced shouting, "Music's too loud, Rach," finally killed the mood altogether.

Rachel found the remote and turned it down. She retrieved her robe quickly donning it and opening the door. "Sorry, Daddy, I was taking a brief nap before my date this evening and accidentally rolled over on the remote control. Incidentally, I thought you and Dad sound proofed my bedroom after the noise complaints."

"Only the exterior walls, pumpkin," Leroy explained.

"Ah, my mistake, so you and Dad still hear me singing at the top of my lungs all night? Do I need to keep it down?" asked Rachel.

"No, honey, you sing your heart out. We love hearing it, and if we ever need a respite from it, the basement is far enough away that we can usually drown you out with the sound system."

"Ah, very well," Rachel said, "Thank you, Daddy."

"You didn't get slushied today did you, Pumpkin?"

"No, Daddy, why?"

"Well, you're wearing your robe. I thought you may have needed to take a shower before your nap."

"No, that would be a product of baby hormones. I feel hot all the time so I've taken to sleeping in very little. That's why the door was locked, so that you or Dad didn't let yourself in during my slumber and see more than you care to." She was satisfied with herself in that none of that was a lie; she just hadn't been specific as to which definition of the word "hot" she had meant. "Actually, I still need to take a shower before my date and Quinn is due back in a little under an hour."

"Alright, pumpkin, I promise not to rough her up too badly beforehand," Leroy said with a smile before turning to head back downstairs.

"Daddy, behave!"

"No promises."

When he was gone, Rachel said, softly, "Shit!" It had taken every bit of her not inconsiderable acting talent to make herself appear as though she'd just been shocked awake rather than one locked door away from being walked in on by her father. Now she was even hornier than she had been before she started and she lacked the time to start again and still get dressed and ready in time. Then a thought occurred to her, her en suite shower had a pulsating shower head.

**X X X X X**

Quinn arrived at the Berry household five minutes ahead of schedule, proud of herself for her own sake since Rachel would probably never know. Quinn was almost certain that she would be waiting at least another ten minutes for Rachel to make her big entrance, and Quinn was fine with that. She made her way up the short walk to the front door and rang the doorbell. It was opened almost immediately by Leroy Berry. "Hello, Quinn," he said, attempting to be intimidating and mostly succeeding except that he was clearly fighting his natural desire to smile at the girl.

"Hello, Mr. Berry," she replied, not fighting the desire to smile at him, "If it's entirely alright with you and your husband I'd like to take Rachel on a date this evening." Quinn knew that Leroy could tell that she was being purposefully silly and cheesy, especially once the hard ass façade broke and he smiled at her.

He stood aside and waved her into the house. "Knock that Mr. Berry crap off or I'll say no. I told you yesterday my name is Leroy. You look very different today, Miss Quinn." He was right. Less than 24 hours ago Quinn had had pink hair and dressed entirely differently in jeans, a shirt, big heels. Now she was back to blonde, wearing a pale blue sundress and incongruously, sneakers.

"Like I said, the pink hair and the trashy clothes were just to prove a point to Rachel. This is more how I usually dress."

"Rachel," he called up the stairs, "there's some blonde girl here wanting to take you out on a date. I told her you already had a girlfriend, a very striking girl with pink hair and mountain of self-confidence. I should send her away, right?"

"Not so fast," Rachel called back. "Pinky and I haven't made anything official. There's still wiggle room. Tell me about this blonde. What do her plans entail?"

"Not telling," Quinn jumped in. "You'll just have to take a chance and see if it pays off."

"What do you say to taking chances?" Rachel sang as she descended the stairs slowly, improvising choreography to the music undoubtedly playing in her head. "What do you saaaaay to jumpin' of the edge? Never knowing if there's solid ground below," a little over halfway down the stairs, Rachel leapt at Quinn waiting below, the former cheerleader caught the tiny girl easily, "Or hand to hold or hell to pay," Rachel leaned down and pecked Quinn on the lips. "What do you say?"

Quinn set Rachel down and said, "You are welcome for that set-up and for catching you."

"Had you not caught me, I'd have declined your offer of a date and simply waited for Pinky to show up," Rachel flashed a smile.

"Uh, Rachel, it's a little warm for the sweater, though the choice to wear sneakers is a wise one," Quinn said taking in the girl's attire, trying very hard not to stare at her legs in plain view of one of her fathers.

"I have a lighter shirt on underneath. I opted to go with layers so that I can add or remove depending on the temperature," she said.

"Weren't you just complaining about constantly being hot?" questioned Leroy.

"Baby hormones shift like the wind, Daddy."

"The girl speaks the truth," Quinn confirmed, "You ready to go?"

"Very ready," Rachel said with her big, beautiful smile, "Good evening, Daddy."

The large man wrapped his daughter up in his big muscular arms, holding her firmly for a long moment before finally releasing her. "It's a school night, girls. Eleven o'clock, not a minute later."

"Of course, Daddy, I love you," Rachel said picking up her purse and opening the front door.

"Love you, pumpkin."

"Bye, Leroy," Quinn said.

"11 o'clock," he repeated as the girls retreated down the front walk.

The girls climbed into Quinn's car and no sooner than they had pulled out of the driveway and gotten out of sight of the house, then Rachel said, "You know, Quinn, I believe you are correct and it is indeed far too warm for a sweater tonight." With that she hooked both hands under the hem of the offending garment and swiftly pulled it over her head and tossed it into the back seat. Underneath she was indeed wearing a lighter shirt, a sleeveless, white, gauzy, very plainly translucent button up shirt. "Quinn! Eyes on the road please!"

"Yeah, you're wearing a see-thru shirt with nothing underneath because you want my eyes somewhere other than on you," Quinn retorted as she made the considerable effort to maintain her attention on her driving.

"I can put the sweater back on if it's going to be a problem. I would like to arrive at out intended destination alive," Rachel smirked.

Quinn glanced at her with an eyebrow hiked, careful to look only at Rachel's face, lest she have trouble looking back at the road. "You just _try_ putting that sweater back on. See what happens."

"Very well, assuming you can focus on the road, the sweater shall remain in the back seat until such time I need it to be elsewhere. Although I feel compelled to point out the inaccuracy of the claim that I have nothing on underneath, I think it should be quite plain to see that I wearing what I think it a very sexy black bra underneath."

"Sexy is right," Quinn replied, "It's a good thing I'm not taking you out somewhere in public or I'd probably be threatening to gut every guy that looked at you… which would basically be all of them, all the straight ones anyway."

"So where are we going?" enquired Rachel.

Quinn shook her head, "Still not telling. We'll be there soon enough. Break out your iPod and play DJ like I know you're itching to do." Rachel needed no second prompting for this. She plugged in, selected a song, and promptly started singing along. As promised, the drive didn't take very long, no drive through or around Lima does.

They were about five minutes outside of the city limits when Quinn turned off on a dirt road. Rachel looked confused about where they were going but held her tongue for the time being. They drove down the road that was little wider than Quinn's car for more than a mile before they started passing lots and lots of trees, all in rows. The road widened out a bit and Rachel could relax about the possibility of them being hit by oncoming traffic, not there actually was any. They came to a crossroads and Quinn made a left and drove on for another mile or so before they came to another crossroads at which Quinn made a right and then stopped almost immediately. She put the car in park, looked to Rachel, and once she managed to summon the willpower to look up to her eyes she said, "The road is pretty muddy ahead. I'd rather the car not get stuck. Do you mind if we walk the rest of the way. It's not far, I promise."

"Of course," Rachel replied, opening her door and getting out of the car, Quinn did similarly "walking is excellent exercise. Plus it's a beautiful night and I have wonderful company, a walk through this…" Out of the car, Rachel was struck by the aroma of their surroundings. "What is this place, Quinn?"

Quinn reached up and grabbed a piece of low hanging fruit and handed it to Rachel. "I thought that was obvious," she replied, "It's a peach orchard. A friend of the family owns it. I come up here sometimes just to get away from everything." Quinn opened the trunk of her car and pulled out her old Cheerios duffel bag and slung it across her body and then picked up a small cooler which she carried in one hand.

"I can help carry something," Rachel offered.

"The pregnant lady is carrying nothing."

"I'm not an invalid, Quinn," Rachel huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Quinn was powerless against Rachel's pout and she knew it. Quinn set the cooler down and pulled the duffel off her shoulder trying to judge its weight. "Okay," she said at last, "the bag isn't all that heavy. You can carry it, but no peeking. It's supposed to be a surprise and it will be spoiled if you peek."

"Very well," Rachel said, accepting the bag and slinging it across her. She offered a hand to Quinn who very quickly accepted and Quinn led them off to their intended destination. They walked wordlessly for a minute and Rachel cast her gaze up to the starry sky and smiled at the clear late-summer night. "You and me together," Rachel sand once again, "Nothing feels so good. Even if I get a medal from my local neighborhood. I won't need a castle, they've got castles in Versailles. And I'm still stranded, wondering why." Quinn looked confused, but Rachel sang on regardless, "Make it a beautiful night for me. It's a beautiful night for love, a wonderful sight for lovers of love to behold. Make it a beautiful night for me. It's a beautiful night for love, a wonderful sight for lovers of love to behold." Rachel stopped singing when what she assumed to be their destination came into view, a beautiful, clear blue pond slightly bigger than an Olympic size swimming pool. Rachel squeezed Quinn's hand and smiled at the blonde but said nothing until they were on the bank. "This place is amazing, Quinn."

"I hoped you'd like it," Quinn said softly.

"How could I not?" Rachel said looking around to take in all the beauty of the place.

**A/N: So the date was all supposed to be one chapter but it was getting monumentally long already so I opted to split it up. The next chapter is already half written. I promise you won't be waiting for a week for it.**

**Rachel always seemed like the type to randomly burst out into song. The first time she does it, obviously is "Taking Chances" by Celine Dion, the second time is "Beautiful Night" by Sir Paul McCartney.**


	10. Date Night Part Two

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: It's definitely a good thing I broke up Date Night into two chapters. If not it would have been over 11,000 words long. I thought about breaking it again into a third chapter, but there wasn't a good breaking point.**

**Fair Warning, this chapter once again earns this story's M rating, in case you're reading this at work or somewhere similar that disapproves of such things.**

**Chapter 10**

**Date Night Part Two**

"So we have a few options as to what we can do," Quinn said, holding out a hand for Rachel to hand her the duffel bag. She took the bag, set it on the ground, and unzipped it. "You may have guessed by the cooler that I've packed us a picnic," Quinn produced a large red and white checked blanket, "I've also got us set up on music to listen to or dance to if you'd like," Quinn produced a portable iPod dock and an extra set of batteries for it, "and the pond is clean, clear of debris if you would like to go swimming." She pulled out two bathing suits and two large, fluffy towels.

"Food," Rachel said simply and definitively. Quinn conceded to her wishes and went about spreading out the blanket. "I commend you, Quinn, on finding an actual red checkered picnic blanket. This is like something out of a movie."

"I knew you'd love it, for exactly that reason," Quinn said as she opened the cooler. The blonde pulled out a pair of bottles of water and offered on to Rachel who was too busy fidgeting with the iPod to notice. Quinn sat the bottle down in front of her and continued unpacking. "So I found this great website full of vegan recipes, most of which looked absolutely delicious. Unfortunately I didn't have time to really cook much, so like I said at the doctor's this is what I could do on the fly. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I'll love it," Rachel replied having finally selected the music.

Quinn first removed a pair of forks handing one to Rachel and setting the other in front of herself. "Okay, so there are no plastic or disposable plates in the Fabray household and the singing and the jumping off the stairs distracted me from asking your daddy if you had any we could use so we're just going to have to eat from the Tupperware. I hope that's okay."

"Absolutely not a problem," Rachel said eagerly awaiting the food.

"Very well then," Quinn said, "first up, the website called it an appetizer but I say we just use it as a side, tangy black bean dip." Quinn pulled the lid off the plastic bowl and set it on the blanket between them.

"Most commercially available chips are cooked in animal fat," Rachel said hesitantly hoping she wasn't ruining the blonde's plans.

"That's exactly what the website said so it suggested an alternative." Quinn removed a smaller bowl from the cooler and pulled its lid off. She showed Rachel its contents saying, "In place of chips, substitute cucumber slices."

Rachel's eyes narrowed. "That sounds intriguing. Please finish your presentation while I sample this combination of tastes," she said grabbing a cucumber and dabbing it in the bean dip.

Quinn hitched an eyebrow at this, "Only because you're pregnant do you get away with this." Rachel didn't reply but instead smiled as she bit into her food, and smiled even bigger as the taste hit her. The adorable brunette did a small seated happy dance in reaction. Quinn couldn't help but laugh at her joy. "Okay, this next one you might find dumb but it's always been one of my favorite snacks, although for tonight I'm calling it a side dish as well." Quinn popped the top on bowl number three, again displaying its contents to Rachel who went bug eyed and squealed.

"Ants on a Log?" Quinn nodded silently, a tentative smile on her face. "I love Ants on a Log! My daddies tease me for still enjoying something deemed to be a childhood snack."

Quinn didn't comment, instead she grabbed the last dish out of the cooler and pushed it aside. She settled down and held onto the main course. "I've never made or even heard of this before yesterday, so I hope I made it right." She removed the lid and set it down on the blanket. "The website called it Mediterranean Rice Salad. It looked delicious and it was quick and easy to make. I hope you like."

"It looks wonderful, Quinn. Thank you so much for doing all this. I've never had a date make me dinner. It makes me feel really special," Rachel said and leaned in to give Quinn a soft kiss that wound up being not so soft. Her shower hadn't really done the deed, and Rachel realized just how worked up she still was. Rachel broke the kiss and cleared her throat. "Umm, yes," she said, "Food."

"Yeah," Quinn agreed, "Let's try this out." Both girls dove into the dish with their forks, each coming away with a small bite to try. Quinn watch as Rachel stuck the food into her mouth and smiled when the brunette's eyes rolled back in her head and moaned as she started to chew. Quinn stuck her bite in and had a similar reaction.

"Quinn, this is amazing," Rachel said having swallowed her bite as she forked out another bite from the bowl. "I had no idea you were such a wonderful cook."

"Honestly," Quinn replied, "neither did I. I've made cookies and cupcakes and, you know, baked goods before, but I've never actually cooked something before." Quinn smiled and the look of surprise on Rachel's face. "I'm glad you like it." Quinn tried the bean dip while Rachel continued to assaulting the salad, and found she agreed with Rachel and the website that cucumbers were an interesting and delicious substitute for chips. The girls ate and chatted about nothing of particular importance which was exactly what Rachel was wanting out of this date.

"I like this. This is really nice," Rachel said as she smiled.

"I'm glad you like the food," Quinn replied.

"No, I mean, yes the food is exquisite but what I meant was that I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the meal with you. That we ate out of the same dish, and we could share that," Rachel corrected, "I've never been on a date where my suitor took my dietary concerns into account, much less forsook their own carnivorous ways, even for a single meal to share one with me. It just feels like such an intimate thing to do, and I know that's kind of silly because we've _been_ intimate, but I've really enjoyed it. Thank you."

Quinn smiled at her and said, "You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it." Quinn began cleaning up a little. The salad was gone, as was the bean dip, so she deposited the empty containers back in the cooler. She replaced the lids on the cucumbers and the Ants on a Log's to avoid actual ants. "I've got cookies if you want," she offered.

Rachel quickly placed one hand over her stomach and held the other up. "Not at the moment, thank you. I know that I have to increase my caloric intake somewhat for the pregnancy, but even still I think I may have over done it."

"That's actually not until the second trimester," Quinn said, "for now you're supposed to eat like you did before. We need to get you some baby books… and we're not supposed to be talking pregnancy tonight. Sorry."

"It's alright," Rachel said, "I did bring it up." Quinn got their food stowed away and sat back down, tucking her legs underneath her. Rachel turned and scooted in Quinn's direction before stretching out to lay her head on Quinn's lap facing out across the pond.

The blonde happily accepted it and started running her fingers through Rachel's long, silky smooth brown hair. "You okay?" Quinn asked softly.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to lie down and stretch out a little while some of my dinner digested before we move on to some other activity," Rachel said, "Is this okay? Are you comfortable like this?" She craned her neck to look back up at Quinn.

"I'm great," Quinn said. She chuckled softly to herself, "I've actually had daydreams of exactly this moment, you and I in this orchard, your head in my lap, me running my fingers through your hair. They always made me feel so at peace."

"Are you at peace now?" Rachel asked.

Quinn inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, nodding her head. "Lying here with you, listening to the rain," the blonde sang, "Smiling just to see the smile upon your face, these are the moments I thank God that I'm alive. These are the moments I'll remember all my life. I found all I've waited for, and I could not ask for more." She looked down at Rachel who was wearing Quinn's trademark hitched eyebrow. "What? Are you the only one that's allowed to randomly break out into song?"

Rachel just laughed in response. Both girls fell silent for a few minutes just enjoying the scenery, the music, and of course the company. Rachel was the one to break the silence. "Quinn, you know me so well and know so much about me, and admittedly that's because I tell more or less anyone who'll listen anything they ever wanted to know, but I realize how little I know about you. Will you tell me about yourself?"

"Of course, what do you want to know?"

"Can we start with your family? Is that too touchy a subject?"

"No," Quinn said confidently. "You know who my dad is, Russell Fabray, world class jerk. My mother's name is Judy Fabray nee Barnes. They're officially divorced now. He lives in Cincinnati with some 20 something Kat Von D-wannabe. My mom kept the name because it still commands respect around here, or at least that's why she says she kept it. Our relationship is still weird and awkward, and I guess that's largely to do with me. I'm pretty sure I haven't fully forgiven her for letting him kick me out of the house and she also doesn't know that I'm gay. I don't know when or even if I'm going to be able to tell her. I don't know that I can deal with being kicked out of the house again." Quinn took a relaxing breath. "I have one sister, Francine, Frannie. She's eight years older than me, married and living in Toronto. I haven't spoke to her since before I was kicked out. She's living the life our father always wanted for her… well for both of us, really, so I can hazard a guess as to what she thought about me getting pregnant at sixteen and what she would think about me being in a relationship with the Jewish daughter of two gay men. My mom has a sister named Christy that I haven't seen in years. My dad has a brother named Liam who I've never met and know next to nothing about because he and my dad weren't close. I think he lives somewhere in Northern California. The Fabrays aren't exactly legion."

"The Berrys aren't either," Rachel said but didn't elaborate, choosing to keep the focus on Quinn, "We all know my plans, but what are _your_ plans for New York?"

"Columbia," the blonde replied, "to study Political Science and American History, then Law School with the goal of being a civil rights lawyer."

Rachel rolled over to look up at Quinn who met the girl's gaze. "That's an extremely admirable goal, Quinn. It's also a tremendous amount of work."

"I can still be there to help with the baby, if that's what all this worry right here is about," Quinn said running her finger lightly over Rachel's face, "I have a trust fund that will more than cover all of it, thus I won't be beholden to any requirement from scholarships. If it takes a year or two longer to accomplish all that because I have to take a lighter course load, then it's not a big deal. Besides, I haven't nailed it all down yet. The History thing may just be a minor instead of a double major."

"Quinn, you shouldn't have to put your dreams on hold…"

"Rachel," Quinn cut her off.

"Yes?"

"Being a lawyer is just my career goal, _you're_ my dream." Rachel propped herself up on one elbow. With her free hand crooked her index finger at Quinn telling her 'come here'. Quinn smiled and leaned down to meet Rachel's lips with her own. Quinn had meant the kiss to be sweet and tender and for a moment it was, but Rachel had other plans. The brunette crushed their lips together with an intensity that Quinn hadn't been expecting but that she was more than willing to match. Quinn's right hand moved on instinct up to Rachel's neck making only barest of contact with smooth, tan skin there. She lightly brushed her fingertips one by one along the side of the brunette's neck. Rachel moaned into Quinn's mouth as her body shuddered.

Rachel broke the kiss and quickly lay back down in Quinn's lap. Quinn missed the contact instantly but couldn't be too upset at the situation she was in. "You kind of amaze me, Quinn Fabray."

"Oh yeah?" Quinn asked, "How so?" She knew she shouldn't be worried but there was concern in her voice. It was years of disappointment reflexively butting in.

"Good ways," Rachel reassured her, "Mostly how you just get me, how you manage to push all of my buttons both physically and emotionally. That thing you just did with my neck, I _love_ that. I don't even know what to call it but it definitely does it for me and you just knew to do it without me ever telling you. Then there's this date. This has to be the best date I've ever been on. It's so relaxed and no pressure. I feel no need to try to impress you and inform you of my many talents and positive qualities like I ordinarily do and I don't feel like I'm constantly on guard at all time. I can relax around you and be the version of myself that I want to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well as you've no doubt noticed I am rather verbose, a chatterbox some might say," replied Rachel.

"Might they say that?" Quinn teased.

"Yes, they might," Rachel said taking the good natured ribbing, "but I don't necessarily mean to be quiet so talkative. It's just a defense mechanism. Part of my brain thinks that if I just keep talking then no one can get a word in and no one can say anything hurtful. I know it's silly because people are all too happy to interrupt me to say mean and hateful things."

"It's not silly," Quinn said, "it's just the way you try to cope with life. We all have them. Mine was being a huge bitch to everyone and keeping everyone at arm's length. Who's to say which is sillier?"

Rachel smiled, "But with you I'm happy to just lay here and enjoy the quiet and the beauty." Rachel fell silent and Quinn remained so. The two girls spent the next half an hour enjoying the comfortable silence, aside from the music, and sharing longing glances, Quinn once again running her fingers through Rachel's hair.

Rachel sat up slowly, turning her attention to Quinn's iPod. "Is there something on here that we can dance to?"

"Slow dance or fast dance?" Quinn asked.

"Fast," Rachel clarified.

Quinn took command of the mp3 player and turned on an entire playlist of up tempo songs to dance to. First was Nelly's "Ride Wit Me" and Rachel smiled. "Remember when we improvised this in Glee?"

"Why do you think it's on here?" Quinn smiled at her.

"Is this a best of Glee playlist?"

"Heh, no. I just like this song because of the memories it holds. Sue was trying to tear us apart, divide us up, and we all just wandered into the choir room and sang the song. Nobody took lead, everyone just danced how they felt like it. It was just..."

"Glee!" Rachel finished for her.

Quinn nodded, "In the most literal sense of the word."

Rachel smiled brightly, "That's beautiful, Quinn. Now start the song over so we can dance."

Quinn and Rachel Rode Wit Nelly and Just Danced with Lady Gaga. Quinn and The Cali Swag District Taught Rachel How to Dougie. They Lost Control with Missy Elliot and Ciara. Then Quinn played and sang along to Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl."

The both settled back down to the blanket, Rachel's head once more in Quinn's lap. "While I see why you'd want to sing that to me," Rachel said, "it is actually a break-up song."

"Not really," Quinn countered, "the words are sorrowful because the singer and his brown eyed girl aren't together, but the theme is more about how he's never gotten over this girl, which I can relate to... you know, a little bit."

"So was this your pining after Rachel song?"

"Despite how apropos it is, no," Quinn said.

"_Did_ you have a pining after Rachel song?"

"Maybe," Quinn said softly, diverting her gaze and biting her bottom lip.

"Will you play it for me? Pleeeeease?" Rachel begged.

"Let me see if it's still in here," Quinn said dragging the iPod dock towards her and scrolled through the list of all the songs on it. "I think I purged all my sad stuff when I decided to get you back."

"Come on, Quinn," Rachel pleaded, "It was your pining song. You must surely know it by heart and can sing it without music."

Quinn facepalmed and said, "Is this going to be our life? You asking for things until you get your way because you know I can't deny you anything?"

"Would it be a deal breaker?"

"There are no deal breakers with you, Rachel."

"So stop stalling and sing the song," Rachel smiled and stuck her tongue out at the blonde.

"Give me a second," Quinn said, "I'm trying to make sure I know how the lyrics go. If the music was playing, I'd have no trouble. Okay, I've got it," Quinn cleared her throat and took a drink of water, swallowed, and started singing, "This is the first day of my life. I swear I was born right in the doorway. I went out in the rain and everything changed. They're spreading blank...ets on... the beach." Quinn looked down and locked gazes with Rachel, "Yours is the first face that saw. I swear I was blind before I met you. I don't know where I am, I don't know where I've been, but I know...where... I want...to go." Quinn gave Rachel a glassy eyed smile and tapped her on the nose. Rachel giggled slightly at this. "So IIIIII thought I'd let you know. These things take forever, I especially am slow, but I realize that I need you and I wondered if I could come home." Quinn placed her hand flat on Rachel's chest just above her heart. Rachel quickly covered Quinn's hand with her own. "Remember the time you drove all night, just to meet me in the morning? And I thought it was strange you said everything changed. You felt as if you'd just woke up, and you said 'This is the first day of my life. I'm glad I didn't die before I met you but now I don't care I could go anywhere with you and I'd probably be happy.'" Quinn dabbed stray tears from her cheeks and looked back down at Rachel to see that she too had tears in her eyes which Quinn also wiped away. Quinn chuckled and said, "I don't remember the last verse, but last line was the sentiment that stuck with me. That song always reminded me of you."

Rachel said, "I love that song…"

"I love you," Quinn interjected.

Rachel smiled bashfully at her and continued, "…and I am, indeed, glad that I didn't die before I met you, the real you, that is. This wonderful, caring, supportive, romantic version of you."

"Are you tired?" Quinn asked.

"No, not at all," Rachel replied, "are you?"

"No, no," Quinn said, "I just… there's one more thing I'd like to do to make this night complete, at least for me, but I wouldn't ask if you were tired from dancing and the baby and everything."

"It's fine, I'm fine," Rachel confirmed, "Just ask."

"Will you dance with me? Slow dance, I mean."

"Of course," Rachel said as she sat up. Quinn immediately started punching up another playlist on the iPod. Rachel made it to her feet and offered a hand to Quinn.

As Quinn pulled herself to her feet, she said, "Once again, call it a daydream, call it a fantasy, but I've had this scenario worked out in my head for some time now. I have two songs picked out that I want to play for us. If you want to keep dancing after that then we can do which ever songs you want."

"Sounds good," Rachel smiled the visibly nervous Quinn, "What's up first?"

"First is a song that I've loved literally all of my life and it's kind of obscure but really pretty. It's called 'Fade Into You' by Mazzy Star." Quinn pressed play and song began. Rachel wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck; Quinn wrapped hers around Rachel's waist. After a moment of them dancing together, Quinn leaned and kissed Rachel, who pulled the blonde in tight.

When they broke, Rachel rested her head against Quinn's shoulder and said, "You're right, Quinn. This is a very pretty song. You should sing it for Glee sometime."

"Me?"

"Yes, it's far too soft a song for my big, booming voice. I can see it now," she said, "You singing and playing tambourine accompanied by Noah or perhaps Artie on guitar."

"Can we not talk about them right now?" Quinn asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm ruining our moment, aren't I?"

"Not ruining, just distracting. Now, shhh!" They danced without speaking again until the end of the song, at which point Quinn paused the iPod. "So the second song need a little bit of explanation. Through the years there have been songs that you've sang that I thought your version of the song was superior, sometimes vastly so, than the original and now I can't even listen to the originals because they don't measure up to you. 'Firework' was one of them, 'Jar of Hearts' was definitely one of them, but the first one I heard where you just completely owned the song is the other song I want to dance to. The next track on the playlist is a karaoke version of 'A Moment Like This' by Kelly Clarkson. Will you sing it for me?"

"Of course, I will," Rachel replied with a big smile.

"You don't mind?"

"Quinn, look at who you are talking to. Of _course_, I'll sing."

"You'll get to see what your voice really does to me, what I've been holding in all this time." Quinn glanced in the direction of the iPod and said, "Whenever you're ready."

Rachel pushed play and the music began. Rachel caught Quinn's gaze and held it. Rachel could feel Quinn's body trembling in anticipation. She began, "What if I told you it was all meant to be? Would you believe me, would you agree?" Quinn's eyes fluttered closed, she swallowed thickly. "It's almost that feeling that we've met before so tell me that you don't think I'm crazy when I tell your love is here and now." Quinn's first tear escaped and Rachel kissed it away before continuing, "A Moment like this. Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this. Some people search foreeeever for that one special kiss. I can't believe it's happening to meeee. Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this." Tears were coming full force from Quinn and the sight of the unchecked emotion made Rachel's heart race. Quinn had used various sayings to describe her admiration for Rachel's singing but actually witnessing it was something else.

Rachel wiped Quinn's tears once more. The blonde smiled as Rachel sang on, "Everything changes, but beauty remains. Something so tender I can't explain. Well I may be dreaming but til I awake, can we make the dream last forever? And I'll cherish all the love we share for a moment like this." Quinn took a deep, calming breath as Rachel went into the second chorus. "Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this. Some people search foreeeever for that one special kiss. I can't believe it's happening to meeee. Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this." The sight of Quinn's emotions on display was now causing Rachel to tear up as well, at which Quinn couldn't help but smile.

Rachel reached up and pulled Quinn's head down until the girl's foreheads were touching. Rachel sang the next verse much more softly, "Could this be the greatest love of all?" Quinn nodded her head against Rachel's. "I wanna know that you will catch me when I fall." Again Quinn nodded this time more vigorously. Rachel smiled. "So let me tell you this, some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this..." Rachel placed a quick kiss on Quinn's lips then turned herself around in Quinn's embrace, which tightened around her waist, before heading into the last chorus. This time she really let the song rip since she was no longer singing right into Quinn's ear. "Some people search a lifetime for a moment like this. Some people search foreeeever for that oooone special kiss. I can't believe it's happening to meeee." Rachel turned back to face Quinn once more, singing softly and breathily, "Some people… wait a lifetime… for a moment… like this."

Quinn crashed their mouths together into the most emotional and intense kiss the girls had ever shared. Quinn's love for Rachel poured into the brunette with such force that Rachel was suddenly gasping for air, as well as feeling what was becoming a very familiar ache. "God, I love you, Rachel," Quinn huffed out when they broke their kiss, she started wiping the other girl's tear, "you have no idea how much."

Wiping Quinn's in return, she said, "I believe some idea."

"Thank you for doing this, making this silly daydream come true," Quinn said, "You're made an already amazing night just that much more perfect."

"Will you do something to make my already perfect evening even more so?"

"Anything," Quinn shot back at her without a second's hesitation.

"Will you make love to me?" Rachel asked.

Quinn's eyes went wide. She was not expecting that, at all. "Are you sure? I wasn't expecting that we would, just because we have before."

"And I love that you have that respect for me," Rachel said. "Under different circumstances, I would probably want to wait, if not until my previously intended target age of 25, then at least for some time that wasn't our first date, but as it stands, not only do I want you to after that intense display of love, but I really, really _need_ you to."

"Drowning in baby hormones?" Quinn asked.

"To begin with," Rachel said. "You protecting me from Finn this morning was pretty hot as well. A brief phone conversation with Santana with her propensity for vulgarity didn't help the situation, nor did inadvertently overhearing the beginning of her and Brittany's, I believe the term, is sexy times. I tried to take care of myself, but I kept getting interrupted and couldn't focus. I did manage to, pardon the base expression, rub one out in the shower, but it didn't really get me the relief I'm beginning to desperately need."

"Okay, well my mom should be out of the house for another," Quinn looked at her cell phone, "hmmm, 45 minutes. Never mind, I don't suppose your dads would have suddenly vacated the house for a couple of hours?"

"When they knew I was out on a date?" Rachel questioned.

"The car, then?" Quinn asked.

Rachel quickly scanned their surroundings. "Your car is extremely cramped, especially in the stereotypical 'back seat romp' scenario and despite my small stature, I seem to recall moving about a great deal. Would you be adverse to right here?"

"Here?" Quinn echoed.

"Yes," Rachel quickly confirmed, "Admittedly, I never featured myself an exhibitionist, but I never anticipated 'giving it up' on the first date, nor falling for a girl either, so who's to say what I am and am not up for. There's no one around, it would seem. How far away is the farmhouse? Do you know?"

Quinn's eyes darkened instantly. She grinned devilishly and said, "Miles from here." Quinn grabbed Rachel and yanked the smaller girl up against her, kissing her once more, one hand brushing lightly against Rachel's neck, the other shooting down to Rachel's tantalizing, toned, bare left leg that Quinn had been dying to caress for hours now. Rachel growled into Quinn's mouth as both of her hands made their way down to the back of the blonde's thighs peeking out from under her dress. Rachel's hand then slid higher up under the dress, then slid higher and higher still until they came to cup the lacy panties covering Quinn's ass and Rachel squeezed for all she was worth. Quinn gasped effectively breaking the kiss but Rachel just moved her attention to Quinn's neck and shoulder. "Shit, Rach! That feels so fucking good. You're ready to go already aren't you?"

"Not quite," she replied between kisses, "but we only have a little over two hours before curfew and I'm not interested in wasting a single minute."

"Damn that's hot," Quinn said as Rachel latched onto her pulse point. "Oh, I'm supposed to be making love to you," she said as she absently stroked her way up Rachel's inner thigh, "should I be watching my dirty mouth?"

"FUCK NO!" Rachel answered definitely.

"I can make you come however you like, Rachel, but you have to tell me," Quinn said invoking her husky sex voice.

"Right now," the brunette groaned, "what I want is this fucking dress off of you."

"As you _fucking_ wish, my love," Quinn said. Rachel moaned as Quinn gathered up the length of her dress and pulled it overhead in one fluid motion. She stood revealed to Rachel wearing only matching red lace bra and boy shorts.

Rachel smiled brightly and chuckled slightly. "We are of similar taste regarding undergarments," she said once again attaching herself to Quinn's shoulder and collarbone area.

"Oh yeah?"

"Strip me and find out," Rachel challenged. No sooner had she said it than Quinn's thumbs were in her skirt pushing it down over Rachel's shapely butt. Once it was clear, gravity took over and it plummeted to the ground while Quinn took two handfuls Rachel's ass and squeezed. Rachel raked her fingernails down Quinn's left thigh and the blonde moaned as her whole body shook. "Baby, I can't help but notice that I'm still not naked."

"Well, turn the fuck around and rub that hot ass on me while I get those buttons undone." Quinn said.

"Just yank it open," Rachel demanded as she turned around.

"Fuck, no!" Quinn countered breathily into Rachel's ear while quickly undoing buttons, "You look hot as hell in it and you can't sew the buttons back on. What the fuck are you gonna do take it to Shelby and say 'Hey, bitch, fix the fucking shirt that my hot ass girlfriend destroyed trying to get at my sweet titties.'?" Quinn managed to undo about two-thirds of the buttons and finally reached for the hem of the shirt, lifting it over Rachel's head and surrendering it to gravity as well.

Rachel widened her stance and bent over at the waist bracing herself on her knees, pushing her ass back against Quinn's aching center. Quinn groaned as Rachel rocked her hips in place. "Don't ever bring up that _cunt'_s name during sex ever again."

Quinn grabbed Rachel's hips and pulled the smaller girl hard into her. "Oh fuck, Rach. Shit if I had a strap-on, I would fuck you just like this right now." Quinn bounced Rachel's ass back against her pelvis a few times to simulate the motion of standing doggie style. "How fucking hot would that be?"

Rachel's head slumped forwards. Barely above a whisper, Rachel said, "Quinn, fuck me."

"Yeah?" questioned Quinn.

"Fuck yeah! Fingers… now," she rasped out. Quinn quickly dropped to her knees, hooked her fingers in the waist of Rachel's panties, and pulled them down to about mid thigh. Rachel quickly disposed of her bra and went to work on her nipples. Quinn braced one hand on Rachel's thigh, just above her knee while the other lined up at her entrance. "I need to feel you inside me, Quinn. Please fuck me."

Quinn slid two fingers in with ease and Rachel inhaled sharply. "God, Rachel, your pussy's so hot and so wet. It feels so fucking amazing being inside you." Quinn worked a steady, forceful rhythm. She could feel Rachel's walls beginning to clinch down on her fingers. It wouldn't be long now. "You're close aren't you, Rach?" The brunette couldn't speak, just nodding her head instead. Quinn knew a few choice words and the right stimulation would send her over the edge. She migrated her free hand up to Rachel's clit rubbing the slick bundle of nerves in slow, steady circles. "Rachel, you're so fucking sexy when you come. Can you come for me?" Quinn picked up the pace with both hands as Rachel's breathing became more and more ragged. "Rach, I need you to come for me. It gets me so fucking hot. I fucking need it so bad. Come for me, Rachel." Rachel's walls tensed and Quinn knew it was time. "Say my name," Quinn whispered huskily into Rachel's ear.

"OH FUCK! QUIIIIIINNNNNNN!" Rachel screamed at the top of her lungs as her entire body convulsed. Her knees finally gave out and she started to lose her balance and fall, but Quinn caught her and guided her gently to blanket wrapping the brunette up in her arms, spooning her. "Again," Rachel said, her breath still ragged.

"Already?" Rachel didn't answer. Instead she pulled her panties the rest of the way off, wrapped one leg over Quinn's thighs, and took Quinn's right wrist in both hands guiding back down between her legs.

"Again," she husked. Quinn didn't question her a second time and massaged Rachel's clit slowly. Rachel growled and said, "Not slow, fast. Inside, now." The Fourth had taught Quinn to give the girl what she wants when she got like this, so she dipped two fingers back in and began thrusting, her palm hitting Rachel's clit with ever thrust. Quinn's left hand assaulted Rachel's breasts. The tiny diva writhed and thrashed under Quinn's attention, her hands up in Quinn's hair.

"I love you, so fucking much Rachel. You are so incredibly beautiful. I really, really want to see you come for me again," Quinn whispered into Rachel's ear before latching onto that very sensitive spot just beneath it, just as she crooked her fingers inside of Rachel and brushed over the girl's g spot. Rachel gasped loudly at the combined sensations. Quinn continued her attacks on both spots and less than two minutes later Rachel's walls constricted on her fingers once more.

"Yeeeesssss!" Rachel screamed her voice hoarse. Quinn's hand was met with a rush of liquids forcibly expelling her hand from Rachel's searing hot sex. Rachel feeling her thighs suddenly being wet said, "Quinn, did I just pee on you?"

Quinn held her hand up to Rachel's face and said, "Does it smell like pee?"

Rachel sniffed. "No, it… smells like me," she said taking Quinn's fingers into her mouth.

"Holy shit that's hot, Rach," Quinn groaned as the brunette cleaned her index and middle fingers.

"I've never tasted myself directly," Rachel said releasing Quinn's hand, "only on your lips after. I taste great. What do you taste like?" Quinn had her ring and pinky fingers in her mouth, also enjoying the taste of Rachel, just shrugged at the girl's inquiry. Rachel rolled to face her and pushed Quinn down onto her back saying, "Take your panties off. I want to taste you."

"You just had two body shaking orgasms in five minutes," Quinn said, "How do you still have energy to go?"

"Do you want to ask questions or do you want me to eat your pussy?" Rachel asked.

"Good point," Quinn said lifting he legs in the air as Rachel made quick work of her boy shorts, sniffing them deeply before tossing them aside. "God, I've turned Rachel Berry into a panty sniffing pervert," Quinn chuckled but stopped when Rachel tongue lapped up her opening and over her clit. "Oh shit, shit, shit yes, Rach. So fucking good."

"You taste like honey," Rachel said.

"Less talking," Quinn said fisting Rachel's hair in her hands drawing the girl in tighter against her center. Rachel's tongue teased Quinn's opening pretty viscously for a couple of minutes before moving back up Quinn's clit. Rachel slid a single slender finger into the blonde gently. "More, harder," Quinn commanded. Rachel complied adding a second finger and thrusting faster and harder. Quinn wrapped her legs around Rachel's head and hooked one foot over the other holding the brunette in place. "Oh my God, ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, Rach, never stop fucking me please. Oh, so good. Please make me come."

Rachel thrust in and out faster with each work. She detached from Quinn's clit to say, "You're so tight Quinn. Come for me. Come for me, baby. I want to taste you when you come in my mouth."

The combination of stimulation and the mental image of the last request was enough to set Quinn off and the blonde came undone, "Oh God, Rachel! On God, lick me all up! Oh God!" Quinn's entire body convulsed for over a minute. Rachel crawled up Quinn's lithe, sweaty body and planted a big kiss on Quinn's mouth.

Rachel broke the kiss and said, "You taste like honey."

"So I do," Quinn said breathlessly.

"You said there were cookies?" Rachel asked.

"Cooler," was all Quinn could manage.

"It seems I've worked up something of an appetite." Rachel retrieved the bag of treats and lay down next to Quinn, who wrapped an arm around the smaller girl.

"I love you so much, Rachel," Quinn said on the verge of falling asleep.

"I love you too, Quinn." The blonde's eyes suddenly shot open wide. She propped herself up on one elbow to look down at her beautiful, naked girlfriend who looked up at her and simply said, "After this whole day, how could I not?" Quinn opened her mouth to say something, she wasn't sure what, but whatever it was it was cut off by Rachel sticking a cookie between her lips. "Have a cookie," she said, "get you stamina back. We have approximately an hour and ten minutes before I'm due home and I still want to go skinny dipping and give submarine sex a try."

**A/N: So what did you think? Hell of a first date, huh? Is anyone surprised that Rachel is energetic to the point of insatiabity?**

**So anyways, that's why I couldn't break the chapter in two because I'd have had a chapter that was nothing but pure smut and I feel slightly pervy having written all of this as is, much less having it be an entire freestanding chapter.**

**When Quinn randomly broke out into song it was "I Could Not Ask For More" by Edwin McCain. Her Pining After Rachel song was "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes. And Rachel, of course, sings "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson.**

**Updated: Because while I'll let a lot of typos slide, Quinn whispering things into Rachel's rear is just too weird.**


	11. Serious Discussion Time

**Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"**

**A/N: So… anyone still reading this? Two months and almost 60k words written on other stories since I last updated this. I have no excuses… well I do, I have a huge family and I work retail so the holidays are an insane time for me. The show's portrayal of Finn over the last three episodes have royally pissed me off to the point that I find it difficult to write him as a sympathetic character anymore, which is a problem since he's supposed to be one in this story. Still none of that excuses leaving you, my most enthusiastic audience waiting for so long. Hope people still enjoy.**

**Chapter 11**

**Serious Discussion Time**

"What should I do, Quinn?" Rachel asked. It was Friday after school, two days removed from the girls' now legendary first date and only hours before Rachel was due to have a serious sit down with Finn to discuss their plans for what to do with the baby after it was born.

"About what, sweetie?" Quinn answered. The blonde was sitting at Rachel's kitchen table, her head buried in her Calculus textbook as Rachel paced the room mentally trying to prepare herself for the conversation to come.

Rachel stopped her pacing and fixed Quinn with a harsh glare, because really, what else would she be talking about right now? "What should I tell Finn that I want to do about the baby?"

"I can't tell you that, Rachel," the blonde said absent mindedly, not looking up from what she was working on, "It's between you and Finn to decided what to do with the baby."

"No, it's not, Quinn," Rachel said finally sitting down opposite the blonde," You're my girlfriend, and I love you and the decisions I make affect you. If I keep the baby then that's going to affect you, you'll be a part his or her life because you'll be a part of my life. You do still plan on being a part of my life? You aren't having second thoughts about…"

"NO!" Quinn cut her off definitively, as quickly as the words would come out. She knew very well that Rachel had serious abandonment issues, stemming from her disastrous relationship with Shelby. "Never! Do you hear me?" Quinn looked deep into Rachel's eyes desperate to make her understand how she felt.

Rachel nodded. "And you know that what's between us isn't some childish pie in the sky fantasy high school relationship where 'isn't this amazing and wonderful and we're going to be happy together forever' because there is world class drama on the horizon for us and not just with the baby but with being a homosexual couple and the chances of your mother not accepting that and uprooting our lives, moving to another city and another state and all the stresses that entails. We know what we're facing and we're still in this together, right?"

"Of course," Quinn said.

"Then why can't you accept that you have the right to have some input into a decision that will affect all of our lives, potentially for decades to come?" Rachel called upon her years of acting classes to carefully modulate the amount of anger in her voice, especially since she wasn't actually mad at Quinn, just frustrated with her unwillingness to engage in this dialogue with her.

"Because I don't want you to decide to keep her because of my regrets over giving up Beth," Quinn snapped and immediately clapped her hand over her mouth.

"You think it's a girl?" Rachel smiled brightly.

Quinn chuckled slightly. Then her chuckle deepened until she was laughing in earnest. "Way to miss the headline, my love." Quinn composed herself and pushed her chair back from the table and patted her lap. "Come here." Rachel stood up and made her way quickly around the table and perched herself on Quinn's lap, wrapping one arm across her shoulders. Quinn looked down at Rachel's abdomen and said, "According to this book I reading, it's going to be another 14 weeks before we can find out whether you're a boy or a girl, and I can't spend the next three and a half months calling you it or saying 'him or her'…"

"Quinn, are you speaking to my stomach?"

"Don't be absurd, Rachel," Quinn looked up at Rachel and said, "I talking to the baby. All the baby books say you're supposed to do this so that they get use to your voice… and you're interrupting." Quinn looked back down and continued, "Sorry, kiddo. You're mom's the dramatic center-of-attention type. Yeah, okay, I know you don't know what that means. I'll explain it later, but right now I need an affectionate nickname that isn't gender specific to call you for the time being. Can I call you Peanut? No? How about Tiny?" Quinn paused. "Of course it's not a short joke." She paused again. "Because it's not a joke, you _are_ short. Okay, okay, fine, Squirt it is. Okay, Squirt, good talk."

Rachel once again bearing Quinn's trademark hiked eyebrow was staring at Quinn when she finally looked back up at the brunette's face, "I don't know whether to be charmed at how incredibly cute that was or concerned with the fact that you appeared to not just be talking to but actually carrying on a conversation with an embryo."

"Squirt has a name, Rae," Quinn huffed and rolled her eyes with a goofy grin on her face.

Rachel smiled in spite of herself. Quinn could be ridiculously cute when she took a mind to. "Whenever you get done being adorable, don't think I've forgotten what we were talking about."

"Yeah, I know," she said dropping the smile, "I just don't know which part you want talk about first."

Rachel studied her girlfriend's face for a moment trying to get any hint of where her mind was but her beautiful features were as inscrutable as almost always. "You regret giving up Beth?"

"Yes," Quinn replied softly but without a moment's hesitation.

"Why?"

"Because I feel like a piece of me is missing," Quinn said, "I miss her every day and it's not getting any better. Tomorrow will be seventeen months and it still hurts like it was yesterday. Factor in hindsight, the fact that I could have taken care of her, the fact that I was going to move back into my mom's house, the fact that I could have actually counted on Puck to be there. Add all that together, and I seriously regret giving her up." Quinn fell silent and Rachel unsure whether Quinn was finished speaking let the silence hang there. "I mean, I don't doubt Shelby's ability to raise her well and give her everything she deserves. It's just… if I knew then what I know now, I'd have kept her."

"And because of this you think I should keep th… Squirt?"

"No," Quinn responded softly, "because of all of this I want to tell you to keep Squirt, but I don't know if… if I want to tell you that because it's what I think is right for you or for us… or if I just want another baby in my life to fill the void, and that's why I'm reluctant to take an active role in the discussion of what we do with Squirt. I'll back you any way you go, but I don't think I can be impartial."

"Alright," Rachel said and fell silent. She rested her head on Quinn's shoulder and Quinn gently stroked her hair. They sat like that for a few minutes of comfortable silence before Rachel spoke again, "What if you took yourself out of the equation?"

"What do you mean?" asked Quinn confusion etched on her face.

"Well," Rachel began lifting her head back up, "you know me very, very well. This has been well established, both physically and emotionally, so it would stand to reason that you would be very well adept at gauging my reactions in certain scenarios. Agree or disagree?"

"Seems logical," Quinn said.

"Okay, you also know, as you've just said, the pain of giving up your own child, so instead of asking what you think I should do, what if I asked what do you think would happen to me if I were to give up Squirt? Could you divorce yourself from your personal feelings and give me your thoughts on my mental state in that scenario?"

"Hmmm," Quinn said as she fell silent for a bit. She wore a pensive look for a little bit. Rachel vacated her seat on Quinn's lap after a couple of minutes and busied herself with the small handful of dishes in the sink while the blonde thought. Finally after almost ten minutes she spoke again, "I have a thought in my head, but I not quite sure how to say it. Can we try an exercise in emotional articulation?"

"Sure," Rachel said.

Quinn patted her lap and said, "Come sit back down." Rachel retook her place on Quinn's lap wrapping one of her arms around the blonde's shoulder. Quinn linked her arms around Rachel's waist tightly. "How do you feel when I do this?"

"Content," Rachel said.

"Why?"

"Because I feel safe, protected by you and I know you'd never let anyone or anything hurt me, and because here with you is where I want to be."

"That's good," Quinn said. She then tilted her head up and closed the gap between them as if to kiss Rachel who responded in kind, but Quinn stopped short. She instead slid the tip of her nose along the bridge of Rachel's and she could feel the muscles in Rachel's face tighten up as she smiled. "How do you feel when I do _this_?" Quinn asked softly.

Without moving, keeping her face very near Quinn's, Rachel replied, "Very happy because being this close to you makes me happy as well as a little excited because I really want you to kiss me right now."

Quinn tipped her face up just a little bit more to Rachel who responded in kind and their lips met gently at first and then with a little bit more force on Rachel's part which Quinn mirrored. A moment later Quinn broke off from her girlfriend and said, "Okay, so you're really good at identifying and articulating your emotions which makes sense with all your acting classes. That will make this considerably easier." Quinn pressed the tips of two fingers against Rachel's upper abdomen and moved them around slightly. Rachel was completely mystified as to what she was doing but said nothing. "There we go," Quinn said finally holding her fingers flat against the area she'd been seeking. "Put your hand over top of mine. Right here." Again Rachel complied wordlessly and Quinn quickly slipped her fingers out from under Rachel's then placed them back over top of Rachel's hand and pressed the brunette's hand into her stomach slightly. "You feel that? That firm knot there in your upper abs? That's Squirt. That's your baby."

"Oh wow," Rachel said almost as a gasp. She held her grip a little tighter. She raised her pinky and wrapped it over Quinn's holding her there too.

"How do you feel now?" Quinn asked.

"Oh God, so many things," Rachel said, "I'm worried because Squirt is so tiny, and intensely protective because of that, concerned about the next eight months and all that entails, anxious to meet our baby and anxious about what our having a baby will mean for the future, and…" A single tear broke free as Rachel choked on her words.

"Rachel, what is it?" Quinn asked suddenly very concerned.

The smile creeping onto Rachel's face alleviated Quinn's concerns very quickly. "I'm happy," Rachel said softly. "I think that I'm happy that we're having a baby, but that doesn't necessarily equate to our keeping Squirt because we have to think not of what makes us happy but of what will make Squirt happy, and as I say this, I realize that you already know this. I wasn't trying to insult your intelligence, merely thinking aloud."

"I understand," Quinn said, "and if I may, there's a slightly better way to express all those mixed emotions you currently feel. You feel like a mom, Rae, which basically how I expected you to feel. That's how you are. You connect with things, with people so intensely. The baby will be no different. In fact, it will probably be even more intensely because Squirt is a part of you. What would be the results if you gave the baby up for adoption? Pardon my being dramatic but I think it might kill you."

"What?"

"Not physically, of course," Quinn said, "but something inside you… that beautiful part of you that loves so passionately, that feels so much. I think that part of you would be damaged irreparably if you had to do what I did and rip out a piece of yourself and give it away. I don't want that and I'm pretty sure you don't either."

"But…" Rachel's voice quaked, "c…can we really do this? Raise a baby _and_ follow our dreams? I hate to sound insanely selfish but I really do not wish to be another statistic, another teenage mother who had to give up on her dreams. My… for so long my dreams and my talent has defined me. To give that up now… with… without Broadway, I-I-I don't know who I am."

Quinn wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and leaned the head into her. "Rae, sweetie, breathe for me." Rachel took a deep breath and exhaled. "We can do this. You are the most determined person I have ever met. You've got me here to help. You've got your dads. Finn's handling all of this a hell of a lot better than I ever gave him credit for. He may just pull through for you. You'll have Kurt, their parents. I think if you wanted to reach out to her, your mom would come through for you as well. If keeping Squirt is what you want to do then you won't be like I was, you won't be alone. You have a world of support."

Rachel pulled Quinn tight against her chest and pressed a kiss against the top of her head. "Thank you, Quinn," she said softly, "I honestly don't know where I would be without you."

"I love you," Quinn said.

"I love you," Rachel replied. They sat together in silence for a long few minutes before Rachel spoke again. "I believe I've decided that I want to keep the baby… our baby."

Quinn looked up at her and smiled. "Okay, then, we'll start getting ready to be mothers."

"Well, we do still have to have a discussion with Finn and get his thoughts on the matter."

"Somehow I'm pretty sure I know what he's going to say," Quinn said, "but even if I'm wrong, even if doesn't want this and wants nothing to do with the baby, we can do it without him… if it comes to that."

"I really hope it doesn't."

**X X X X X**

"…and so after a great deal of soul searching and discussion with those closest to me, I have come to the conclusion that giving away the baby is not an option that I would like to pursue. I am going to keep and raise our baby," Rachel said.

"Thank God," Finn said sighing with relief.

Rachel smiled and said, "So you wish to keep the baby as well?"

"Like you don't even know," he said, "if you'd said no I was going to do something to try to convince you to change your mind. I don't know what, exactly, but I was gonna do something."

"So you're… you're excited about this then?"

"Yeah, totally. Something I never told anybody about when Quinn was… when I found out about Quinn's baby being Puck's, the thing that I was most upset about wasn't them betraying me, which I mean that hurt but I got over it, but it wasn't nearly as bad finding out that that I wasn't gonna be a dad. I was really looking forward to that. I…I think I'll be a good dad, Rach."

"I think you'll be a wonderful father, Finn," Rachel said, "Your enthusiasm for it is a great first step. We should discuss a plan on telling Burt and your mother. I think…"

"I sorta already told them," Finn cut her off, "I'm sorry. I know you wanted to wait until we knew what we were doing and all."

"No, it's okay. I just thought it would be an easier conversation to have once we had a plan of action, but if you needed or just wanted to consult them about what you wanted to do, then I completely understand. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression otherwise. Might I ask how it went?"

"Mom was pretty upset with me, like you might think, although she was happier to hear it from me than she would have been if she'd caught me singing to a sonogram again. Burt was… y'know, Burt. He takes everything in stride, said he'd do whatever he could to help. After football season is out, I'm gonna start working in the shop more to help pay for stuff, doctor's visits and whatever and also so that I can get a job at an auto shop after graduation."

"Is working on cars going to make you happy, Finn? I don't want you to feel like you have to just because you know how," Rachel said.

"No, yeah, I really like working in Burt's shop," he said. "There's uh… I dunno, like when I take a car that doesn't work right and I manage to fix it, I really feel like I've done something, y'know? I've been looking at places around New York City. I'm still not sure if I want to leave Lima or not."

"Well, I'd be glad to help you research places," Rachel offered, "and if you opt not to go, then we have plenty of time to work out the exact details of getting you plenty of time to see your child."

**X X X X X**

After Rachel's discussion with Finn and a conversation a few days later with Rachel and the Hummels, that left only one awkward conversation left to have between Quinn and her mother and she spent the next month avoiding it at all costs. After school, she spent all of her time either with Rachel or with Brittany and Santana. Rachel never pushed her to do anything she wasn't ready for. Santana was the surprise in the situation. Normally, Santana would be antagonistic about it but having just gone through her own ordeal coming out and the less than wonderful reception she got from her abuela, the Latina didn't have it in her to be hateful about this. Instead she was just encouraging, always saying that as hard as coming out was, it's better once it's done.

"Mom?" Quinn called as she and Rachel walked through the front door.

"In the den, sweetie," her mother called back almost immediately.

Quinn cast a glance back at Rachel giving her hand one last squeeze before letting go. "We don't have to do this now," Rachel said softly, "if you aren't ready."

"I have to do it eventually. I can't keep hiding out at your dads' house, and I'm never going to be any more ready to be thrown out later," Quinn replied. Rachel gave Quinn a hopeful smile and made a heart sign with her hands. Quinn smiled back and silently motioned for Rachel to follow her into the den which she did. "Hey Mom," she said.

"Hello, honey," Judy said standing to greet them, "You're home early. Who's our guest?"

"This is Rachel, Rachel Berry. Rachel this is my mother, Judy Fabray."

"It's very nice to meet you, dear," the older blonde said extending her hand, "You're in the Glee Club with Quinn aren't you? You are a very talented young lady."

"Thank you, Mrs. Fabray. That's very kind of you to say," Rachel said accepting Judy's hand, "It's very nice to meet you as well. You have a very lovely home."

"Aren't you a sweetheart? So are you and Quinn friends or…?"

As her mother trailed off the question, Quinn spoke again, "That's actually what we're here to talk about, Mom. Can we sit?"

"Of course, dear," Judy said sitting in the chair she had been sitting in prior to their arrival. Quinn and Rachel took seats next to one another on the love seat opposite her. "What's on your mind, sweetheart?"

"This is…" Quinn started and stopped, "This is probably not going to be easy for you to hear, but I need to say it. You've probably noticed that things have been pretty awkward between us for a while now, since I came back home really, and especially the last couple of months I've really avoided being here whenever I could, and that's because I'm afraid of how you're going to react to what I'm about to say, and I wish there were some easier way to say this but I've just got to come out with it. Mom, Rachel's not my friend, she's… my girlfriend." Judy just sat still absorbing this. "I'm gay, Mom, and I know the Church says that that's sinful and that I'm going to Hell, but I just don't understand how it can be a sin to love someone, and it is love. I've loved Rachel for so long, since the first time I saw her, before I spoke to her, be…before I even knew her name, I loved her." Quinn felt Rachel's hand slide into hers and grasp it for dear life. "I tried to be not gay. For three years, I tried to push down my feelings and make them go away. I dated the boys that I should have wanted. I tried to convince the world and myself that I loved them, but I really felt nothing… certainly nothing compared to what I feel when I'm with Rachel. I'm sorry if this is upsetting to hear, Mom, but people at school are starting to get suspicious and I just didn't want you to find out from anyone else."

Judy sat listening intently with an unflinching facial expression through the whole thing barely moving. "I've… I've been expecting this conversation for a little while now, after you cutting off your hair and acting out this summer," she said without betraying her mind set at all.

Quinn tightened her grip on Rachel to the point of causing her actual pain but the brunette didn't complain. Quinn looked down to the magazines decorating the coffee table between her and her mother afraid to see the look in her eyes as she answered the next question. "And?"

"I'm not going to kick you out of the house or send you to some horrible gay camp, honey. I love you the same, and I'm still your mother. Beyond that…" Judy sighed and continued, "Everything I've read says that I should just be absolutely honest with you about how I feel, so understand that that's what I'm doing." Quinn once again looking at her mother nodded, "Beyond that I don't really know how I feel about it, Quinnie. You obviously know what I was raised to believe, but the last year has challenged a lot those things I was taught and I don't really know what I believe about a lot of things anymore. I don't understand it. I don't understand how a woman can love another woman, but at the same time I believe you when you say that you love Rachel here. I… I may never walk in a parade for you, Quinn, but I'm going to try to be better about things, try to understand things. You don't have to avoid me or this house and you don't have to hide who you are and you don't have to hide your relationship from me."

"Thank you, Mom," Quinn said as she quickly rounded the table. Judy stood just in time to be engulfed in a hug from her daughter, the first genuine, heartfelt hug she'd gotten since Quinn had moved back home.

"Sweetie, you don't have to thank me, I didn't do anything."

"You did so much more than you know," Quinn said into Judy's neck. "I've been practically living with Rachel because I was too scared to come home to spend any time with you because I was afraid of actually getting along with you and bonding. I thought that it was best to keep you at a distance so when you eventually found out and kicked me out again that it wouldn't hurt as much."

"Honey, that's never going to happen again, okay," Judy said with firm conviction in her voice.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, honey."


End file.
